Freaks amongst Half Bloods
by lolarose2012
Summary: Percy and Nico have always stuck together as best friends and brothers especially after the "death" of Percy's mother. They have weird powers but have no idea what those powers mean and then something even more out of the ordinary happens. Watch as they journey to New York to fulfill their mothers wish and ultimately discover more about themselves. No Percy and Nico Pairing
1. Chapter 1

Nico Knew he was late and Percy was going to kill him. He walked briskly through the streets trying to get to the location of the competition as fast as possible; hopefully Percy's race wouldn't have started. He knew he should have left the apartment earlier but Percy knew about his new found aversion to sunlight so hopefully he would understand the reason why Nico was thirty minutes late for his swimming competition. They were even lucky that it was winter time and in England the sun set around four or else Nico knew he would have been even later. He entered the auditorium just as they were calling the hundred meters free style, phew, that is Percy's first race so he was cool.

_**Nico,**_

I walked into the auditorium trying to be as inconspicuous as possible but that proved to be difficult as I walked in wearing a black aviator jacket with a black sweater on top of a black shirt paired with black jeans and black loafers. I tend to draw attention when I walk into places. Fortunately for me, Percy saw me and grinned slightly at least it meant he wasn't going to try and kill me later. I grinned back and walked to the stands where I took a seat in the front stand with the swimmers families.

This was a National school competition and my school, Mills Lake, was in the finals thanks to our star swimmer, who just so happened to be my theoretical brother and best friend Percy Jackson. The race started and he was off pulling ahead by the time they were at the fifty meter mark. Percy and I were not very normal, we had powers. Mine was I could see the dead and sense deaths. I could also manipulate the earth, shadows and basically any elements of darkness.

Percy's was with water, the earth and he could talk to horses. He could manipulate water, breath under it, was refreshed by it, he didn't get wet unless he wanted to and he could talk to and control creatures of the sea. He could cause miniature earthquakes if he got angry and once when he was riding a horse, it spoke to him. We kept our powers to ourselves of course because we didn't want to be probed by scientists or disturbed by reporters. There was nothing normal about us, we had lived together alone for the last year and a half and had no parents we knew of. I had just turned eighteen, but Percy had turned eighteen in august so now it was legal for us to live alone, we had enough money to pay for the flat in Knightsbridge so we could concentrate on school and not be disturbed by the Government trying to "help" us. How do two eighteen year old boys have enough to pay for a house in Knightsbridge without parents or jobs? We didn't know, Percy's mum had died and left us a letter that told us minimal things but it explained that we needn't worry about any expenses that there would always be money in her account and when he turned eighteen it would all be for him. She warned us to be wise and told us someday it would all make sense. She also said we were going to apply to University of New York after we graduated from Mills Lake and from there the path would become clear. I read the letter almost two years ago and it still freaked me out.

Percy and I pondered; this had to do with our powers we were sure of it but when Sally was alive she didn't seem to notice them. Not that she'd been alive for long after we realised what we could do, but even then it made us wonder why she was keeping so much from us. I stopped thinking about how my life could possibly change and watched Percy finish the race.

The world record and the competitions record were right beneath the timer and Percy was keeping himself about twenty seconds behind the competitions record, so that was only a minute and a half behind the World Record. I knew he could go faster, I had seen him do it but we didn't want to attract attention to ourselves. As it was, he was ahead of the other swimmers by his whole body length and that was enough for everyone to be certain that he was definitely the winner of this race. I stood and cheered him on as he got closer to the end, and so did the rest of the school team. We erupted in cheers as he won the race and pulled himself out of the pool. The coach was there to give him a pat on the back; he was happy because that was the third gold medal for our school out of five. I knew Percy was going to get his hundred per cent success rate again and he had five races today.

I sat through the entire competition cheering on Percy and talking to a girl on the team called Violet. Mills Lake was in the lead by about ten points and there were two races left; the four by one hundred male medleys and the 4 x 100 male freestyle. Those were also Percy's last two races. Percy swam last leg butterfly and helped us secure the gold in the medleys relay. It was now time for our last race and everyone wanted an epic win, our best swimmers were on the race and they had done excellently so far only losing two or three races. All the swimmers stood on one end of the fifty meter pool in a line. The third leg swimmer was missing but I spotted him arguing with the coach about something near the door I hoped everything was alright. As he walked back to position I had a bad feeling about it, they had about ten minutes before their race but they had to be there and accounted for a while before. I studied the swimmer and I could feel like there was something really wrong with him.

I went over to talk to Percy about it, "Hey Perce, I need to talk to you a minute just come over here," I asked as I grabbed him and pulled him to the side. I began speaking in Greek which we'd discovered we could read, write and speak,

"There's something wrong with one of your swimmers, something seriously wrong. I doubt he's going to be able to swim the length, not to mention the whole two lengths. Who's your substitute?"

Percy looked worried then, "We have none now, one guy hurt his ankle and the other had a wedding to go to, we're all out."

"Can't you swim two legs?"

He looked at me then shook his head, "Not without raising suspicion, I've been swimming all day and I've already done five rigorous races. Doing two hundred and winning would make me look abnormal and there are scouts here, don't want them spreading the word about me,"

He suddenly stopped then looked like something had struck him, "Nico, you can do it, you're a pretty good swimmer and you have the stamina. The first two guys are excellent so they'll probably be in the lead, I've seen you swim Nico and I know you're good, please."

I looked at him for a second then sighed in defeat, "if not for the fact that this means so damned much to you, I'd have left you to rot. Where's your spare speedo we have five minutes and the guys going to collapse in about three, I'll be out in two." I said as I walked away from him briskly and retrieved the speedo from his bag.

I was out of the changing room in record time and standing beside the coach ready to show him when the boy fainted. He would be alright, I knew that much but he wasn't fit to swim today. I looked at the boys pale face and counted down from five, once I got to one he promptly fell and Percy caught his head before it could reach the floor. I notified the coach and he ran there.

In all the hustle and bustle an official came to ask for the replacement and Percy said my name. Excellent everything was all set, the coach looked at me and nodded, "Good luck son, good thing it isn't crucial though. No offence but I haven't seen what you can do so just do your best and enjoy it," I nodded and gave the coach a small smile then I walked over to Percy to talk as the race started.

"You okay Nico?" he questioned,

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm just happy you taught me how to swim and made me practise for as long as you do" I smirked at our secret. The other teams looked fairly confident but you know what they say, 'Don't count your eggs until they've hatched'.

The raced commenced with a buzzer noise and they were off, the guy in the first leg was good and he brought us in for a majorly close second. The second leg was even better and by now we were in first place, and then it was me.

I dived in and swam in the precise manner Percy had taught me too, barely making a splash as my hands sliced through the water and my feet propelled me forward. As I reached the fifty meter mark and returned in one swift movement, I propelled myself forward faster and faster, there was no need to be careful of time as I wasn't really good enough to break a world record. So I just swam coming up for air only about six times in the entire two lengths.

I reached the end and saw Percy dive in ahead of me; I then exited the pool and saw we were in the lead, of course. The coach came over to me and smiled widely,

"Di Angelo you were phenomenal, the technique was excellent from the dive to the wall push of. Even your form, nearly as good as Percy's it's a wonder you didn't join the swimming team. Anyway it's too late to ponder now, you did a phenomenal job and placed us right back on top. Commendations, you truly deserve them."

I smiled widely then heard the siren sound the winner. I whipped my head back and ran back to lift Percy out of the pool as he smiled widely, "Congratulations National Champion," I shouted over the noise of people screaming for us.

The confetti was blowing in now that the other racers were out of the pool. The trophy was passed over to Percy as he was simultaneously hoisted onto the shoulders of his team mates; I laughed lightly and walked back to the changing room to return to my prior outfit. As I walked into the room which was now dark, I felt like there was a presence here too but I didn't see anyone so I changed into my clothes and walked back outside.

The rest of the team was wearing sweats over their swimming costumes and were driving anyway so they wouldn't get cold. Percy and I decided to walk home because our house was not too far away from the venue.

As we walked home talking, Percy dried himself so he wouldn't get cold. Suddenly I felt like we were being followed and stiffened, Percy stiffened too but continued walking. I turned back but saw nothing, we were walking through the park and it was empty. There was a lake on the left of the path we were walking on and not much else.

Again I felt like there was something or someone following us, I stopped for a second to talk to Percy then before I knew it I was being grabbed and something was biting my neck. Percy must have seen it because just as it sunk its teeth into my neck it was grabbed off and I saw Percy manipulating two strong hands made purely of water.

My neck exploded in pain but I had to help Percy, the thing didn't look fazed by the hands just surprised and before my eyes it broke through the hands and flew at Percy sinking it's teeth straight into his arm. This time I summoned skeletons from the earth to distract it and get it off Percy for long enough. This thing was fast and it was strong, the skeletons managed to get her off Percy who summoned more water to hold it but he didn't look so good,

"Percy!" I yelled, "I'm about to use hell fire and large rocks, stay safe!" I yelled as my hands reached to the ground,

"Be careful! Don't use too much of your power!" he yelled back struggling to keep the thing contained.

I got a good look at it and suddenly realised what it was, "vampire," I whispered. Then all hell was let loose, the she devil broke out of the grasp and kicked Percy into a bush then came at me, I focused on the earth and two dagger sharp black rocks shot out of the earth and pierced the thing. It made it look like rocks colliding and shattering as the creatures' body was halved. I had already drained a lot of my power then I used the last of it to summon fire to engulf the creature's body. I crawled over to where I saw Percy land and blacked out as a fiery fire began to consume me.

I woke up feeling revitalised but also immensely thirsty. I opened my eyes and was shocked by the clarity and high definition everything seemed to be in; I could see everything. And even more disorienting, I could hear everything too, it was really weird. I looked around to see Percy still passed out behind me, I tapped his shoulder and he woke up then gasped,

"Nico, what the fuck is going on?"

I looked at him then and was slightly surprised by what I saw; his once tan skin had gone a bit paler and his formerly slightly crooked nose was now straight. His eyes were sea green but they had a reddish tint to them. He gasped as he looked at me too,

"Nico, what happened to you? You look different."

I thought back to the last night I remember but everything was hazy; it was like watching a low definition movie with scratched glasses. But I remembered enough of that fight to realise what was happening, I was immensely disturbed.

"Percy," I said standing up slowly, "I think we were bitten by a vampire, I killed her yesterday but not before she bit both of us."

He stood up immediately and with inhuman speed, "Whoa!" I gasped, "This is not good, Percy are you thirsty?" he stood stark still for a second then replied,

"Yes, yes I am immensely thirsty actually."

I walked out of the bush we were still standing behind and came into the view of the lake and very few people milling about the park, "Percy, there's a lake here does the thought of having water hold any appeal?" Percy was beside me in seconds.

He scrunched his face up then answered, "No, no it doesn't."

I started to panic then, what if we had lost our powers? I had to find out; I concentrated on the ground and willed a skeleton warrior to appear. In a fraction of a second it did. I sighed in relief and glanced at Percy to find he wasn't there, I looked around and I still couldn't find him, then something weird happened, I stopped and listened. I could hear him breathing above me. I looked up and sure enough there he was standing on a broad branch.

I raised my eyebrow sceptically but my voice was filled with amazement, "How on earth did you get up there?"

Percy smiled and hopped down, landing gracefully on the balls of his feet. Weird, the word graceful was not usually applied to Percy except when he was swimming, fencing or any other sport he did.

He shrugged at me and responded, "I jumped up, grabbed on to the branch and swung myself up. I have a feeling there's a lot we can do that we don't know. Oh and by the way, we've been passed out for about three days. It's now Tuesday at seven fifty if we hurry we can still make it to school and not get into major trouble a week before we graduate."

I paused for a second and then looked at Percy and shouted, "Race you home!" then I set of running as fast as I could.

It didn't strike me how fast we were going till about fifteen seconds later we were home. I stopped abruptly and Percy followed suit, we both looked up to the house in front of us and then looked at each other.

Percy broke the silence, "This is really weird, we're superfast, have amazing hearing and sight, and incredibly agile. I wonder if we are super strong too, hmm" he pondered as we walked up to the door of our house. I unlocked the door and walked in to find a letter to Percy and I from his mother.

_Dear Percy and Dear Nico._

_I don't know when you'll receive this but if you do, it means I'm gone and you are about to graduate and move on to New York. Don't sell the house or worry about it, everything will be fine. I know you will both be able to cope there living by yourself and the money is already in your account Percy. Remember I love you both and only kept secrets to protect you, you are both destined for greatness and come from greatness. You will be going to New York for the summer to give you enough time to settle and such. There you will meet your fathers and everything will be explained to you. You're going via Private jet and will be staying in an apartment which was left to me when my father died. You don't need to pack much you will return here often enough and you can shop for stuff when you get there. Transportation has been arranged, the car will be here too take you to the airfield in exactly one week and a car will be at the airport to take you to your home. This may be very unusual for you seeing as I am no longer around, but things are about to change my darling boys, you need to be prepared._

_Love Sally_

We looked into the large envelope it held two American passports for Percy and I, huh I never knew I had American blood, I thought I was all Italian, two motorcycle keys, two door keys and some pictures. Behind each of the pictures was a name and what the person would do for us, there was a picture of the drivers, and one other man who was supposed to help us.

Percy sighed and walked into the living room, "It's like she never even died on a plane crash, and this is really frustrating. Whatever, let's go to school we can test our new found abilities out after."

He mumbled and ran up the stairs. I suppose to me it might have seemed slow enough because I was like him but something tells me a normal person would have thought he disappeared.

I sighed loudly and ran up the stairs to change and begin a new day and ultimately my last week in England for a while.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews, this is my first story so I have no idea how it all works. This is therapeutic writing and some of the ideas used may seem familiar. This is fiction, not realism but total imagination.**

**I own nothing. Thanks**

**Percy,**

School today looked like it might be eventful, but only for me and Nico. Unfortunately for us we were still two unbelievably thirsty vampires and well, being in a school with so many human beings was not really a good idea. Unfortunately, we figured that out the minute we stepped on to school grounds and were assaulted by the sweet smell of the kind of food, or drink, we actually had an appetite for.

We almost couldn't control ourselves and we knew we wouldn't be able to last much longer before we went on a killing rampage so we registered in school and quickly got off school grounds.

"Nico, what the hell are we going to do? I honestly don't want to kill anyone." I asked Nico, worry evident in my voice.

"I really don't have a clue, it's not like I know where we can get a blood bank and just loan some blood," he responded looking slightly worried as well.

We sat in a large tree about a kilometre away; it took us less than thirty seconds to get here if we ran so we could get back to school whenever we wanted. We were both getting really thirsty now and couldn't focus on anything else.

I looked around us; our school was in a small farming village with loads of stray foxes and dogs. Suddenly something caught my vision, behind the wall a couple of miles away was a pack of foxes they looked like they were after the sheep that were grazing a couple of meters away.

I elbowed Nico and pointed to the foxes, and then we looked at each other simultaneously and nodded.

I leapt out of the tree and landed lithely on the balls of my feet then silently sprinted closer to the foxes, when I was about twenty metres away when I drifted into a hunting crouch and ran forward. I have no idea where or how I learnt to do all this, but then I stopped mid step and lunged at the foxes, breaking the firsts neck before latching on to the second. I expected the other foxes to have escaped but I saw Nico a few metres away with one paralysed but not dead at his feet.

There were six foxes so we each had three. It was a quick succession of draining them and tossing their carcasses to the side before we were sated.

I stood up, and dusted my clothes off then I looked over at Nico who was standing and looking at me. He shook his head slightly, "you still eat like an animal" he laughed, "are you done or did you want to finish that cow off for desert?"

I glared at him, "We were lucky today, what are we going to do throughout school for the next week? We're bound to get hungry again these didn't even taste right."

He shrugged, "I think I have an idea, but we need to talk about it during our free time later. Right now I got a text from Travis that we're having year book photos taken in third period, and it's halfway through second. So if you want to have a good photo, I suggest you go and change to something less bloody"

I looked down at myself, and sure enough, the top part of my blue shirt was splattered with blood. I rolled my eyes and sprinted back to my boarding house, being careful not to be seen by anyone. My room was on the first floor, it had a window I always left open in case of emergencies though none similar to this. I sprinted and leaped through the gap in the window, moving out of the way for Nico who followed right behind me.

"Being a vampire is really cool, even though we have to find a way to feed as well, that part is really annoying, but the rest is cool." Commented Nico as he now sat on my bed texting.

It didn't take me long to get changed into a new green Abercrombie and Fitch shirt and dark blue skinny jeans with a pair of sneakers and I grabbed my jacket off the hook on the way out even though I wasn't actually cold.

We walked through the campus casually because now that second Period was over and it was time for break, we looked like two absolutely normal upper sixth guys making their way over to our tutor rooms.

Of course now a couple of things were different, we could see everything and everyone ten times more clearly, and more importantly, we could hear everyone. Now being able to hear what everyone is saying about you is a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing if you are the cool, good looking guy that all the guys want to be, and every girl wants. But if you're the opposite let's just say it might not be all candy and cakes.

Nico and I were lucky; we fell into the first category. National Champions and according to the female population of the school who had noticed us walk by; we weren't too bad on the eyes either. I smirked to myself and spoke to Nico repeating a bit of a conversation we had just heard,

"'Oh my gosh they look like two fit as hell Greek Adonis's. They are so beautiful, perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect teeth, and perfect bodies. I mean, Nico wears all black and makes me think of the devil, but if he is I would definitely sell my body and soul to him.'" I smiled at his eye roll but continued, "She so wants you, do you reckon you could pull her? You could tell her you're the devil come to take her away." I laughed as he elbowed me.

"Oh yeah, how about you did you hear what that girl just said, 'Percy and Nico are way to fit to be real, I mean Percy has perfect green eyes, tall, excellent bone structure, sexiest lips ever but you always have to wonder with these physically perfect guys, what will they actually be like in bed?'" Nico asked, "So Percy, have you got what it takes?" he said looking at me and waggling his eyebrows.

"Shut the fuck up, Di Angelo." I responded, and he laughed.

We continued our walk through the school now passing by the younger years whose comments were less explicit. Then we reached the large Dining Hall and then we quickly made our way to our group of friends, "Hey Stolls, Leo, Silena, Tasha, Marcia, Lara, Aidan and the twins. How are you guys?"

There was a chorus of heys then Travis spoke up, "Percy, Nico, where have you guys been? And you look different"

I glanced at Nico then spun a quick lie, "We've been around, had some family stuff to sort out, we're going to New York next week so there was a lot to do. I haven't been doing anything new, so I don't know what you're talking about"

Travis raised his eye brow but Connor spoke, "Woah there that sounded like a pretty defensive retort, what are you not telling us?" I rolled my eyes at their weird in syncness.

The thing is, Travis and Connor are brothers who look almost exactly the same but they aren't twins. Travis is older and the fact that he is also taller is the only way you can distinguish them from each other. They think the same way and act the same way, it's almost like having a copy of Travis.

Unfortunately because they are basically clones, it means you have twice as much mischief even if only one of them is behind it. They are master pranksters and Legends at our school thanks to the lots of close calls with the Head without actually getting caught. Fortunately for us, they're also attending NYU next year because they're family is based in New York and they go back every summer to this camp, so it makes sense to live there permanently.

Nico covered the answer this time before I messed up again,

"Calm down Stolls, we'll discuss all the details with you back in the house. We don't want to put out our dear ladies, now do we?"

The girls gave us glares and all the boys clapped us on the back and nodded in approval.

We stopped our messing around when we saw the Deputy Head come into the hall; he stood at the door and waited for everyone to fall silent, then he spoke,

"Congratulations graduating class, you've come a long way and now it's practically over. Today will be your casual year book photos for your year diary and in this you have one individual photo, one with a group of friends, then one with someone who is a best friend, brother, or your romantic interest now. This should be something you cherish forever so don't make stupid choices, this might take a while so enjoy!"

Then he promptly left the hall and the photographers came in. There were five of them, and they set up posts all around the hall. A slim girl about my age in ripped jeans and a polo shirt stood in the middle of the hall.

"Hello everyone," she shouted with an American accent, "I'm Rachel, and I'm going to be the coordinator for this, in lack of a better word for it, photo shoot. I'm an aspiring artist, and this is a summer project I want to add to my portfolio. Some of your pictures will be used in the display and when I pick the one's I want, I'll email a consent form.

I raised my eyebrow while glancing at Nico, "Will we appear in the pictures?" I said to him faster than human ears could comprehend. I don't know how I knew that, but since becoming a vampire, I had a lot more room in my head for everything.

Random facts that I knew before like the speed of light or sound could now be put in practical terms in my head. It was weird but cool.

"I don't know, I'll try taking a picture of you with my phone" he responded just as fast and low. I nodded my head and proceeded to listen to the girl give more instructions out.

I heard the camera shutter close and Nico looked at his phone. "Percy, it worked" he whispered and I nodded my head to signify that I had heard him.

"Okay, we will be starting with the individual photos; A to E go over there to Matt," Rachel said gesturing to the man on the far left of the room, "F to J you guys go with Piper," she said pointing to the woman or girl across the room from Matt.

"The next group, K to O, you guys head on over to Jane," she pointed to the woman closest to the door. "P to T, you guys join Megan," she signalled to the woman alongside Jane but a lot further down. "Last but not least, U to Z join Alice," she announced pointing to Alice who was in the centre of the room.

"No, I'm separated from Nico and Percy." Connor said sounding sad

Travis knocked him upside the head, "You'll have me Connor fear not. So guys," He said gesturing to the rest of our group, "We'll take the group photo with our group right?"

There was a chorus of agreements before I smiled and stalked off to where my letter was.

I sat waiting for the last couple of people before me in the line to take their photos when I noticed the girl walking over. She saw me and smiled, "Hello, I'm Rachel Dare" I smiled back and responded, "Hello, I'm Percy Jackson it's nice to meet you. So, what brings you to Mills Lake for your portfolio piece?"

I asked as we shook hands. I noticed her stiffen when our skin came in contact and she had a faraway look in her eyes before she straightened up and answered, "I had a hunch, and my hunches are always right."

I nodded at her and took note of her strained smile, she was beautiful but not in the classic sense. My new eyes had scrutinised her face and found little to no flaws on her excellent skin. The freckles across her face fit her face marvellously but her eyes showed unease and slight discomfort.

Not a second had passed as I had studied her face and analysed her expression, so I answered without missing a beat.

"That's excellent, what is this project for and why did you decide to do it?" I wondered

"I come from New York, and I decided to do it as a charity project to support the green community. A friend of mine is a nature freak and tries to preserve the wild. So he convinced me to take part,"

"Sounds really interesting I have to say, your friend is a good person. Anyway, I'm moving down to New York in about a week before I start at NYU, are you by perhaps going to attend there or do you go there?"

Her eyes lit up immediately, "That's amazing I am starting there this fall along with some friends of mine, maybe we'll see each other."

"Yeah Maybe," I hear my name being called and turned to the Piper girl, "That's me" I hear her gasp 'wow' and whistle under her breath before she beckons me over.

I turn back to Rachel and I'm about to say goodbye when I notice she has already waltzed over to Piper and they are having a discussion.

"There's something off about him, I can't tell if he's one of us or not." I heard Rachel say to Piper

"Whatever, he's hot. He should be part of the people you use for the piece. Oh and ask the Stolls and Leo, turns out they go here. I saw them with him when we entered the hall, they seemed to be really good friends."

I wanted to hear more but I figured I had better go forward before they thought I was weird. I pondered what they said. What did they mean by one of us, they sure as hell weren't vampires because I could hear their hearts beating? Could they mean with powers like Nico and I have? Also, what did she mean by she knew the Stolls?

I had no idea what all these questions meant, but I sure as hell was going to find out. I reached them right as they broke apart and Piper gestured for me to sit down.

"So Percy you already know I'm Piper and I'm an aspiring photographer so this is work experience for me. Alright, let us begin."

I smiled at her, "That's great, good luck with everything. So where do you want me?" I asked with a crooked smile on my face.

I heard her heart rate increase then she gave me a once over as she muttered, "Topless on my wall" under her breath. I obviously wasn't supposed to hear that so I kept my face the same.

I sat on the chair she gestured to and she told me to relax, be myself and do whatever I wanted. I shrugged and she took about four or five shots of me in different positions with different expressions, and then I was done.

**NICO**

I could see everything, hear everything and think about multiple things at the same time. I was stronger, faster more agile and I still had my powers. I could resist human blood a bit too easily for someone who just became a vampire and had only fed on foxes. I realised all that as I posed for my pictures. There was something going on here and I intended to find out.

I spotted Percy walking over to me and nodded my head towards the doors.

As we stood outside the hall in the courtyard I began to voice my worries, "Perce, there's something going on here, we're supposed to be vampires right? Why can we stand in the sunlight with no problem, resist humans so easily and why haven't our appearances changed. I mean, you look like you but paler and your nose is straight."

I observed him for a second, "You basically look like a more beautiful version of your old self."

He nodded at and spoke, "I know, those questions have been nagging me all day but there's more. I heard that Rachel girl talking to Piper about me. She told Piper that she wasn't sure I was one of them. Now ideally she would have been talking about being a vampire? But she couldn't have because I could hear both their hearts beating."

"You're right, that is weird, but how do we find out?" I asked,

"I think we're going to have to wait, my mum said the answers would be in New York so let's enjoy our last week here with our new powers, and try not to get caught," Percy smirked then he led me back inside to finish the remaining shoot.


	3. Chapter 3

CH3

NICO

We were done; it was time to start a new chapter in our lives, we had made it. I stood at the front of the school where the students were getting into cars with their parents and heading home, and I waited for Percy. I was holding my Sports man of the century Trophy and plaque while he said goodbye to some girl he'd gotten with a couple of times.

I was beginning to get impatient, "Percy, let's go my arms hurt," I say knowing he can hear me although he was well out of human hearing range.

He rounded up his goodbye and strolled over, "You big baby, I know for a fat that your arms don't hurt not even a tiny bit,"

"No, they don't feel like I'm carrying a feather. But we need to get going, there's a lot left to complete before we head off tomorrow,"

"We have all night mate; remember we don't actually need to sleep," Percy said as he hopped into the driver's seat,

"Yeah I know we don't but we have to hunt, I'm getting thirsty again. I have an idea of where we can find blood though."

"Oh and where would that be?" Percy asked with raised eyebrows

"Don't worry just drive; we'll discuss all the information later."

It didn't take us very long to return to the house, where we found yet another letter from Percy's mother.

_Dear Boys,_

_Congratulations on your graduation, I'm very proud of you. _

_Now you have to pack; remember not to take too much and inside the bag is two presents given to you specifically from your fathers. You must carry them with you at all times; the black envelope is for Nico and the blue envelope for Percy. New York is a whole different ball game and you must be very careful. You have a long road ahead of you and these gifts will help you through it all._

_Things are about to change my darling boys._

_Good Luck._

_Love, Sally_

Percy upturned the envelope and two smaller envelopes fell out. Inside were two items each; in mine there was a black armband with a crest on the top. It was engraved in Ancient Greek and it said "Prince". The second item was an obsidian black ring with a skull head on the top and two glowing ruby eyes. Under it was my name engraved again in Ancient Greek.

Both gifts were immensely beautiful, I looked at Percy and asked, "What did you get?"

"I got blue band like yours but with a different crest even though the word Prince was still engraved. And I got a very expensive looking bronze pen; my name is engraved on the side of the pen in Greek."

"This is too weird, but it's getting me ready to go to New York. I want answers and I want them now." I paused as I wore the armband. Once I had secured the two clasps, I watched in awe as it glowed and the clasp disappeared leaving the bracelet to transform from a cloth material to a solid metal. The thing then proceeded to meld itself to the surface of my arm from my wrist to a finger length down my arm.

"Whoa, this is too weird," I gasped and was answered by Percy who now had an identical band on his arm but his was in blue, "I know mate, I know."

"I wonder what it does, hmmm" I mused while studying the thing.

"Remember dude, answers in New York, let's pack so we can go!"

"Really Percy? We're like super-fast and we only have to pack like half a suitcase of important stuff. Come on, how long could that possibly take?"

"Fine, how about we go over to the park at midnight and have a mass epic game of hide and seek and tag we can also see if there is any animal worth hunting out tonight." He suggested

I pretended to think about it, "hmm, it's nearly five now so we have about seven hours to sort all that stuff out, I think we can manage it."

"That sounds feasible, last to finish packing is a rotten egg!" he shouted to me and then he was off to his room a Nano second later to begin packing.

I shook my head and ran off, there was no way he was going to beat me. I already had most of the important stuff packed. Things like my ipod, ipad, and Laptop were in a special bag that held all my valuable wrist watches and other items. That would be my hand luggage.

My second bag of medium size would contain a couple of my favourite shirts and other clothes, shoes, some signed cd's and a box of my most treasured moments. I finished my packing in about two point five minutes and made my way downstairs to watch some television. I had also managed to tidy up my room and spread the clothes for tomorrow out.

I wore the ring I had just been given and of course the bracelet thing did not look like it was going to come off anytime soon.

I felt a vibration in my phone and lifted it up to see who was calling. Travis Stoll, hmm I wonder what he wanted,

"Nico speaking, what do you want Stoll?" I asked in a cautious voice,

"Calm Down mate, the Lad's and I are going to nip down to the pub and have us some drinks before we head up to Tasha's for a leavers party. Are you guys up for it?" he asked over the phone

"I'll think about it, we'll probably come for the Party but we need to pack so I don't know about the Pub. I'll ask Percy what he thinks when he comes down from his room." I replied,

"Oh, that's great then I'll see you guys a bit later if you decide to show up. Remember, this is the Last party you're attending till we get to university, don't miss out on the opportunity of some lovely gash." I could almost hear the smirk in his voice as he said that.

"Whatever Stoll give me a ring when you guys leave the pub, bye." I answered as I dropped the phone

I heard Percy's door close and he was beside me in the next second, "How did you finish so fast, I heard you come out like thirty minutes ago?"

I smirked at his pouty expression, "mate, look who we're talking about. I mean seriously," I said raising an eyebrow at him.

He shrugged in defeat, "Fair enough, are we going to the pub or not?" he asked landing on the seat beside me

"Is there a point? I don't think we can taste anything, alcohol won't affect us" I said in a sombre voice

"That is really annoying, we need beer to survive." Percy complained in a whiny voice.

"I know how you feel Percy, I honestly do know how you feel." I let out a big sigh, "I'll text Travis to tell him we'll be at the party but you aren't done packing so we can't go down to the pub."

"Yeah, sounds cool" He answered.

About an hour and some later, we arrived at our best friend Tasha's house to find the part in full swing. There were couples making out everywhere and loads of drunken people having a rave to the loud music blaring from the speakers. The room was large and spacious as all the furniture had been moved away and it was filled with easily two hundred people. Percy and I walked through the room, everything was disgustingly loud but I could still hear the minuscule things. The room was dark and foggy from the cigarette smoke but my eyesight was still excellent; it was like I had night vision goggles on.

"Nico, Percy you came!" Connor shouted at us from the arms of a girl he had just been making out with.

"Yeah we did. Hey do you have any idea where Tasha is?" I asked

"Um, I saw her with Travis a couple of minutes ago. They looked like they were getting pretty cosy." He answered, the girl beside him as starting to get impatient so we said our goodbyes and made our way over to the kitchen.

"Hey Nico, there's Vanessa looking at me. I think I'm going to talk to her." Percy said as he walked away,

"Right Talking is all you're going to do." I said in return.

I laughed at Percy's antics as I was pulled into embrace by a girl who immediately began to rub herself on me in response to the slow song that just begun to play on the radio. The girl was really fit and it had been a while since I got with someone so I went with the flow.

One thing led to another and later I looked at the time as I got up from the bed and got dressed. It was one thirty and I had to find Percy so we could go. I walked through the hallways quietly, my footsteps not making a sound as I looked for Percy.

I was walking past a room when I caught his scent, he was in this room. I opened the door and saw him wearing his jacket.

"Come on you arse, we actually have to leave this place you know." I muttered to him

"Oh, whatever Di Angelo, like I didn't hear her screaming your bloody name" he smirked,

"Please Jackson; remember my hearing is just as good as yours. I'm pretty sure Vanessa's screams were just as loud."

He laughed as we walked down the stairs and sped off back home.

We stopped in that same spot in the park we got bitten and we decided to have a little battle. Before we were turned, we had ADHD and Dyslexia. To help our ADHD we did many sports and martial arts classes. One of our top sports was fencing but we had no swords for that so we decided to fight instead.

"Okay the rules are, don't kill all powers allowed." I said.

"Deal" he replied. Then we charged.

I ran at him but he jumped over me then landed behind me and kicked my back. I was sent flying forward but I turned it into a rolling leap and stood up again. I ran forwards calling on skeleton warriors to attack. Percy noticed my tactic and ran backwards but I reached him first and grabbed his arm and flipped him over my head. This caused him to go flying about twenty metres away from me and into the lake.

My eyes widened as I realised my mistake, I immediately summoned a large wall of obsidian black stone which was followed a millisecond later by a giant wave of water. It protected me mostly but the immense pressure still caused the wall to crack and I wouldn't be safe behind It much longer.

I ran backwards but was stopped as I felt a giant arm pick me up and throw me to the ground then it picked me up again and turned into a large box of water. I was swimming inside trying to find a way out as Percy ran forward and laughed at me. I summoned fifteen skeleton warriors who attacked him at once which broke his concentration for a fraction of a second.

I fell to the ground and ran up to him; he had already destroyed the soldiers and stood ready for my attack. I kicked, punched, lunged and blocked in super speed that I'm sure if someone saw us they wouldn't think I was moving. I got a lucky swipe and kicked Percy into a tree. The tree promptly cracked and almost fell.

I looked up at the tree for a second then when I looked down; Percy was nowhere to be found, "Shit," I said and I was right.

From behind me came a powerful kick that sent me flying through two trees which immediately went down. Then Percy was beside me hand on my neck, he thought he had one but I didn't think so.

I grabbed his hand and flipped him over me, he immediately tripped me and I fell on my bottom. He stood up but I wrapped my legs around his and sent him to the floor, he then slid between my legs and did a backflip to stand. I grabbed his hand to send him flying over me and onto his back, but he grabbed my neck and I ended up twisting him into a chokehold. He grabbed me but I flicked his hand off and then suddenly we were standing with our hands at each other's throats.

We pause then said "Truce" at the same time.

"That was awesome," he said.

"I wholly agree except I'm wet and we kind of trashed the park," I replied as I took in my surroundings.

There were three trees down and many dents in the floor from where we landed. The places where I got my rocks from also looked pretty bad, basically like up turned earth.

Splinters and bits of rock lay around and there were weird dents from where either I or Percy crashed into the ground at any given time.

The best part was, apart from our clothes being torn and me being wet. "This is way cool," I commented.

"I know mate, but we should probably clear off before we're arrested for vandalism." He said starting to walk in the direction of our home then he broke out into a run. I followed closely behind him all the way there.

Once we got home we continued with cleaning the house and ensuring all we were taking was ready in front of the door for when we were laughing. We each had a medium sized suitcase and our carry on luggage. And when twelve rolled around, we said goodbye to where had been our home for the past ten years and drove off towards the airport where the jet was waiting.

**PERCY.**

**We **arrived in New York in the late afternoon in one piece. The arm bands we had gotten the day before were still molded onto our arms and the crests reminded me of something, but I couldn't put my name on it. Mine had a trident on a crest with two horses by the side and it was blue. Nico's had a scary ass helmet and two skeleton heads with gems engraved into their eyes.

My pen still lay inside my pocket, and Nico's ring was there on his finger. As we exited the plane there was a guy there to take us to the apartment. I looked at the picture of the person supposed to take us on my phone then the picture of this guy; they were the same person so we were good.

The drive to my new home was short and uneventful; Nico was trying as much as humanly possible to keep out of the light regardless how little it was.

They drove into Fifth Avenue and the driver ground to a halt in front of an apartment building. The outside looked very posh and Percy didn't want to know what the inside would look like, but he hoped it was as good. They went up to apartment 13F and once inside they saw another letter from Sally,

_Dear Boys,_

_I'm happy you have made it this far, I am extremely proud of you. _

_Now the drama starts, things are about to change and something's are going to be explained to you._

_This evening you will not be staying here. You will be heading to a camp where you will find out who your fathers are. Be prepared to open your mind. In the vase at the side of the room are the keys to two motorcycles. They are yours, use them as you please. Take them to this address in Long Island and be careful. If you meet anything, use your weapons they look like nothing but they are not to be taken lightly._

_Love Sally._

I glided over to the vase and put my hand inside it, I brought out two keys and directions to the basement parking lot. I packed a rucksack of stuff and left the rest here then motioned to Nico to do the same. In ten minutes we were ready to set off again.

The lift took us all the way to the bottom floor and we walked to the parking number for our designated apartment and I think I nearly died. In the space were two 2012 Harley Davidsons; one balck, and one dark blue.

"How the hell did she get access to 2012 Harley Davidsons when she died two years ago?" I questioned furiously.

Something was going on and I needed to find out Nico voiced the exact thing I was thinking, "Something's going on and we're going to find out, but we can't do that if we're still here. Let's get there first. Come on Percy"

I nodded and hopped on the motorcycle with my rucksack, and Nico and I floored it out of there. By the time we reached the highway we were going so fast I'm sure if we were human we would have had an accident. But as we were our reflexes could keep up with the speed.

Nico and I raced neck and neck going ridiculously fast, I had a pair of blue Ray Bans on and Nico a pair of aviators. We got to the turning of the location and started to make our way up the hill.

Then it all went wrong, I heard growling behind me and turned to Nico who looked like he had heard it too.

I motioned to a bush and we kept out motorcycles there and decided to walk up the hill, we were nearly at the top when the growling became louder. Suddenly we were surrounded by nine huge dogs, they looked like tankers and we were goners.

I threw my rucksack to the side and looked at Nico, "It was Nice knowing you mate" I said

He looked at me oddly and answered, "We need weapons, try and get a stick or something."

I thought for a second and said "Nico the gifts!"

He seemed to get what I meant and rubbed his ring like something would happen. Immediately a metre long sword with a blade black as night was in his hand.

I think my eyes just about bulged out of my head. The dog things however didn't like that and hissed then begun circling us.

Nico whispered furiously and quickly over to me, "Percy get your fucking pen out of your pocket before they bloody kill me"

I got my pen out of my pocket and clicked it. As soon as I did that the pen turned into a metre long bronze sword. Well it turned out the monsters didn't like that very much and soon two lunged at me at the same time.

I swiped down at the first one and it disintegrated into dust and then I immediately kicked the second one and sent it flying back. It crashed into a tree and slid to the floor.

Ugly number three and four five and six then snapped out of me and came at me at the same time. They were fast but I was supremely faster; I ran away so fast and reappeared behind them. Before they could even turn around one had been disintegrated. I grabbed the tail of the other and threw it over my head. It landed a couple of feet away which gave me enough time to hop onto the back of the last one and stab it in the head.

Ugly number two had now regained consciousness and was slinking towards me with Ugly number four at it's side. I smirked and swiftly threw my sword threw one's head at it promptly disintegrated, then I charged Four and front flipped onto its back. It jerked around for a second trying to dislodge me but I put my arms around its neck and crushed it. It abruptly went still and disintegrated leaving me sprawled on the floor.

I sat dazed for a second then I looked over at Nico who looked like he had been lounging there watching me for a while.

"How long have you been like that?" I asked

"Oh, only about five minutes. This whole seen took roughly six minutes." He answered.

I looked down at myself and groaned. My new Mario Vercelli jacket was ruined because of monster fur and dust.

"Oh Seriously I really liked this jacket!" I exclaimed and then I glanced at Nico who didn't have a hair out of place on his pretty Italian head, "How the hell did you stay so clean?"

"You were playing around with those poor creatures making them think they stood a chance. Seriously, all you had to do was like run round fast stabbing them one by one." He said in an amused tone.

"Whatever I said, let's just get my bag and our bikes and get on with this self-discovery mission"

We road our motorcycles up the hill and to the big pine tree that my mother describes, then we see a sign written in Ancient Greek and of course we are able to read it.

"Camp Half Blood, what on earth is that?" I say confused, Nico shrugs and we ride inside the camp and park our bikes just inside the borders.

As we walk up the hill towards a big blue farm house, look around and see a couple of volleyball courts, some cabins and a structure that looks strangely like an Amphitheatre.

As they walk up to the house a large stallion with the upper body of a man walks up towards them,

"What the fuck, this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder" I whisper as the man comes up to us.

"Hello, you must be new here I'm Chiron the Centaur welcome to Camp Half Blood" he says.

I glance at Nico and introduce myself, "Hello, I'm Percy Jackson,"

"And I'm Nico Di Angelo,"

"We come from London and we're foster brothers and best friends."

Chiron reaches out to shake me and notices the band on my hand; he looks startled as he notices the band on Nico's hand as well.

Then he looks at us and gasps and a bluish light forms over my head, I look up and see a glowing hologram of a trident like the one on my bracelet and a hologram showing the helmet like the one on Nico's bracelet over his head.

Chiron looks frozen for a second before he bows. "Hail Nico Di Angelo son of Hades, Lord of the Underworld and Ruler of the Dead and Percy Jackson son of Poseidon, Lord of the Seas, Creator of Horses and Earth shaker."

I pause for a second, "Wait my dad's Poseidon? A God? I'm the son of a God?"


	4. Chapter 4

**This Chapter basically just explains a lot, i'll update the next one very soon.**

**Thanks a lot for the reviews. Remember, this is fiction based on the works of someone else (Riordan) so character differences should sometimes be expected.**

**Percy**

I was still in shock at the revelation that I didn't even realise Chiron was talking to me,

"Yes boy, your father is the mighty Poseidon. Your blood is special; it's made up of the blood of a god."

"But I thought they didn't exist, I thought they were all myths." I said even though I was beginning to understand. '_That's where I got my water powers from, those monsters we just fought that's why they are possible' _I thought

"Percy, you are standing in front of me a centaur and from the looks of it, it looks like you just fought a monster of sorts. To top it off, look at your bracelet, what is that on the crest and what do the words beneath it mean?" Chiron inquired and what he said made me look down.

I believed him but it was still so surreal. I looked down at the bracelet and I realised what the symbol was; it was a trident and two horses, the symbols of Poseidon. Beneath it the symbols translated to "Prince"

I looked at Nico and his face betrayed no emotion. Then I looked back at Chiron and something clicked, "You're not the Chiron are you? Like the one from the stories my mother used to tell?" I asked incredulously

He nodded as his eyes twinkled with amusement, "Seriously? You must be like 3000 years old!" I exclaimed looking extremely surprised.

Chiron just laughed and was about to say something when a boy who looked about twelve came running up towards him, "Chiron, come you've got to see this!" he shouted before he turned around and took off back towards the cabins where some sort of spectacle was going on.

Chiron looked at us and motioned for us to follow as he galloped ahead. We ran at human space so we didn't draw attention. We really didn't want anyone running away from us because we were vampires.

What we saw when we got to the clearing surprised me; There was an omega shaped row of 13 Cabins which all had different designs and flags.

"I'm guessing each one for each Olympian," I whispered to Nico who nodded.

Chiron looked surprised at the pitch black cabin with obsidian walls, stone pillars and Red fire outside the doors. He gestured to a girl who came forward, I couldn't see her face but I instantly knew who it was from her scent, Rachel.

"Rachel, what is this?" Chiron said still slightly surprised.

"It's a cabin, well a sort of present to the heir and the Prince of Hell from Hades himself" Rachel responded slightly surprised, "But it's a bit weird because we have no sons of hades."

I heard Nico's breath hitch as he stared at the cabin, then Chiron asked another question, "I'm assuming the same explanation goes for why the Poseidon cabin looks brand new?"

The Rachel girl nodded silently and Chiron sighed then motioned back towards us to come forward.

"Campers I would like you to meet our newest additions; Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and prince of the seas and Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades and prince of hell"

The entire Camp seemed to gasp especially Rachel who stared wide eyed at us. We both raised our hands and said "Hey" at the same time. I heard the entire camp burst into chatter and I picked up many comments being made left, right and centre.

"Oh my gosh they are so hot"

"Dude, isn't it weird that we have two male children of the big three at once?"

"They look like wimps, I'm sure I could take them in a fight"

"I wonder who would win in a fight between them and Thalia and Jason"

"Annabeth is going to be so shocked when she comes back"

"They're going to be pranked as soon as the Stolls get here tomorrow"

That last comment piqued my interest; The Stolls went here too? That would mean they are demi gods, I wonder who their immortal parent is?

Chiron turned his attention back to us, "Well boys it was nice meeting you but I now have some pressing issues to attend to. We shall talk later but for now I will have Piper and Rachel give you a tour round camp," Then he promptly galloped off back to the big house.

**NICO**

Once Chiron left, I turned to face Piper and Rachel, "Hey guys, long time no see" I said with a smirk

Rachel looked elated and slightly relieved, "I knew there was something weird about you two, I just couldn't specify what it was, but now I understand perfectly."

"So whose daughters are you?" I asked them curiously.

"Oh, I'm mortal but I'm the maiden oracle." Rachel answered with a slight smirk and a wink,

"And I'm a daughter of Aphrodite" Piper replied with a smile and a slight curtsy.

I laughed lightly at the gesture but I could finally understand why she was so beautiful. The best thing is she didn't even try. I noticed she had no makeup on her face, her hair was choppy and uneven but it really suited her.

"Well guys welcome to Camp Half Blood. As you already know, this is where Demi gods go when they reach a certain age because at that point, their scent tends to attract some really horrible monsters who, surprisingly, always try to eat them." she said not even bothering to hide the sarcasm,

"The cabins you see are all dedicated to the twelve Olympians, and now Hades. Each God or Goddess is expected to claim their children once they get to camp so that they are put in the right cabin with their siblings." She spoke as she gestured to the cabins

"Most of the cabins are used through the year but usually, when it's not summer, the children return to their various homes to attend school and try and lead a normal life. They only return in the summer to train." Piper added, "The Artemis and Hera cabins are never in use and until about thirty minutes ago, neither was the Poseidon cabin. The only cabin of all the big three being used was the Zeus cabin and even that was pretty recent."

"Why?" asked Percy looking confused,

Rachel sighed, "You know the two world wars?" We nodded,

"Well they were basically an argument between the sons of Poseidon and Zeus on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. So after the Second World War, the Big three made a pact to not have any more children. But from the looks of it, it seems that Zeus broke the pact first unless of course both of you are over nineteen?" Rachel questioned with a raised eyebrow

"No, I'm eighteen and so is Percy"

Rachel Nodded, "I thought as much. Anyway, they made the pact because they believed their children were too powerful and hence too dangerous. But of course, Gods can never stick to their promises for too long so here you both are.

"Glad to see I'm loved; oh and by the way I have a question about some monsters we encountered outside camp. What kind of monster is as big as a tank with red eyes, arrays of sharp teeth, similar to a dog and is black?" I asked looking at Rachel and Piper.

They seemed very surprised and Piper answered incredulously, "_Hellhounds_? How on earth did you fight hellhounds and win without any training or weapons and manage to come out looking like that?" She exclaimed gesturing at my pristine condition.

I knew she had caught me out but how was _I_ to know that fighting those dog things, or hellhounds as she called them, was a big deal? I decided to answer two of her questions and tactfully evade the last comment about how spotless I looked,

"I do have a weapon and I guess I was lucky right? I mean Percy had to fight one and his clothes are a mess" I offered with a weak smile.

I looked at Percy and used my eyes to beg him not to tell her there were not two, but in fact, twelve hellhounds.

He seemed to get the drift and gave a sheepish smile. Piper however didn't seem convinced; she gave Rachel a look and then turned back to us, "Could I perhaps see your weapons?" she asked as the curiosity leaked into her voice.

I shrugged and displayed my ring on my finger, then I rubbed the bottom of it and it transformed into a metre long sword of death. Percy brought his pen from his pocket and clicked it to make it transform.

Rachel seemed surprised and gaped at the weapons but she was gaping more at mine than at Percy's.  
She was about to say something when a big muscular African American guy jogged up to us and introduced himself.

"Hey I'm Charles Beckendorf but everyone here just calls me Beckendorf. I'm a son of Hephaestus and cabin leader"

"Hello I'm Nico,"

"And I'm Percy, Nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you too, Hey Rachel, Piper." He shifted his weight a little looking a bit nervous, "Hey guys, I was standing a little way off and I couldn't help but notice your kick ass swords, mind if I took a look at the blade of yours Nico? It isn't something I've seen before and I've seen and know about every metal used for weapons."

I didn't see any problem with this but as I was about to hand over the sword to him, his hand stretched out to grab it by the blade, Rachel shrieked, "No! Don't touch the blade!"

Beckendorf and I looked at her weirdly, "And why on earth not?" I asked

"Because Nico's blade is made from Stygian Iron and his sword is specially dipped in all four rivers of the underworld, one touch and it severs the souls from the body. Monsters killed with Stygian iron are not known to be able to even reform, the sword absorbs the essence and uses it to charge itself for later attacks." She explained and then she turned to look at me,

"Only children of Hades can wield this weapon and they are forged only for children of hades. Once the wielder dies, the sword is wrapped with him in the shroud and they are burnt together. This particular weapon is even more deadly though I don't know why, I can just sense it. Be careful with that thing." Rachel then let out a shaky breath and Piper gave her a pat on the back to calm her.

By now the sword was hanging by my side and Beckendorf's hand had dropped to his side,

"I can hold it at close range for you to study?" I offered and he looked immensely pleased with that.

I held my sword vertically at my chest level and stayed completely still as he studied every inch of it.

I heard him murmuring some things as he worked his way along the blade. He tilted my hand in different directions as he studied it in extreme detail. After about five minutes of him staring at my grip on the sword, the hilt and the base of the sword, he asked me a question,

"Have you ever held a sword?"

"Yeah, I used to do a lot of fencing back in London, why?" I asked with my eyebrows scrunched up in confusion,

"Because your grip is a bit too perfect for a beginner, how's the balance on the sword?"

"Perfect, not too heavy, not too light and not too long or short," He nodded in response,

"What we have here is a class five weapon; immensely dangerous, most probably charmed and judging from the way the sword fits into his hand and his name engraved into the blade of the sword, which by the way has wisps of darkness curling over it, I would probably be right to conclude the weapon was melded specifically for you."

Beckendorf looked over at Percy' sword and asked him to stretch his hand out so he could study it in the same manner. Percy did as he was told and this time Beckendorf only took fifteen seconds before he had drawn his conclusion,

"Percy's blade is made from good old Celestial Bronze; deadly to monsters and Demigods. This weapon looks a lot older, maybe dating back to the ancient times. But it doesn't seem to have seen much or any action unless its previous owner kept it in immaculate condition at all times. There is an engraving though, it says "Anaklusmos" which means Riptide."

"Over all though you guys have pretty sweet weapons; we could use you on the blue team for capture the flag this Friday. It's Hephaestus, Hermes and Apollo against Zeus, Ares, Athena, Demeter, Dionysus and Aphrodite." Beckendorf announced bitterly,

Piper snorted and my eyes widened, "Why would they allow that many cabins against you guys, isn't that like cheating or something?" I wondered immensely confused

Piper replied, "No it's not, I'm Second in command of the Aphrodite cabin so I made the alliance with the Athena cabin, who is leading the red team, to get back at the Hermes cabin for the prank they pulled on us. We have nothing against the Hephaestus and Apollo cabins."

"So are the rest of the cabins doing this to get back at the Hermes cabins then?" I reasoned,

Piper looked thoughtful for a second then shook her head, "The Hermes cabin has a lot of people, and are great with traps so usually it's a good thing to have them on your side but they pissed of the Aphrodite, Ares and Demeter cabins off, so no one wanted to side with them."

"Then what happened to Zeus and Dionysus cabins then?"

"Zeus always partners with Athena because the head councillors, Thalia and Annabeth, are best friends. Dionysus usually goes with the winning side which is usually Athena."

"So basically, the blue team has a little chance of winning?"

Piper almost looked like she was about to try and make us feel better, but all that came out was, "Yeah pretty much,"

"Wait a second, our weapons are real and could hurt someone are you telling me you guys play capture the flag with real weapons?" Percy asked now,

Beckendorf, Piper and Rachel shared a look; "Yeah pretty much," "Yup," "That's right," Came their replies at the same time,

"Which reminds me, we have to get you guys some armour and start with your training so those weapons can actually be of use on Friday come on," Beckendorf said then began walking towards a shed, "Bye Girls, see you later," he called over his shoulder

Percy and I waved goodbye then jogged of towards Beckendorf.

After fitting us with our armour, Beckendorf gave us the rest of the tour and allowed us to quickly dump our stuff in our cabins before he took us for dinner, explaining the various rules and regulations on the way there.

I sat on the hades Table whispering to Percy whose table was behind mine.

"What are we going to do? I mean, there isn't any blood here like we took from the cows on random farms back home. Even then it was nasty stuff."

Percy looked worried as well, "Nico I have no idea, and I don't want to kill anyone. Do you think we should talk to Chiron about it?"

"Yeah, but not yet, Let him see that we're actually good people and not blood sucking demons,"

"So how do we do this now then," he enquired, "Do we act like we're eating then ditch early?"

I nodded thoughtfully, "That sounds good but we need to find out more about being Vampires and half-bloods, maybe that's what disrupting the cliché vampire traits like being able to walk around in sunlight, not having nasty blood thirsty urges and having relatively normal but impenetrable skin"

"Not to mention being able to sleep," he added with a snort.

I chuckled then observed the rest of the hall. Of course no one had noticed out exchange because no one could hear it. Their ears weren't that good and would never be. I on the other hand could hear everything and what caught my attention the most was the Aphrodite cabin,

"No, I call first dibs on Nico" "And I call first on Percy," I heard some girls saying,

"Okay I get second on Percy" another girl enthused. Piper seemed rather disgusted as she spoke to another girl on the table called Silena who I supposed was head councillor. "They are revolting; they all want to sleep with the same two guys?" Silena laughed, "Let the little dears have fun, after all it isn't every day that the two hottest guys in the world come to camp and have British accents. If I wasn't with Charlie, I would have closed first dibs on both.

I smiled at that and looked up to see Percy smiling, looks like he had heard that clearly. I chuckled to myself and continued to turn my food around my plate. After a few minutes of this, I decided it would be okay to get up and leave the hall.

Percy and I were now walking towards my cabin because it was closer than his to the dining pavilion. We walked in and I was pleasantly surprised; the walls on the inside were painted black and there were curtains so the only light was generated from the flame torches along the sides of the wall. There were real lights, but they were all switched off and the flame torches burnt with a weird green fire so it gave the cabin an eerie feeling. The ceiling of the cabin was encrusted with gems so the light reflected off them giving this cool glowing look to the place

I felt elated, "This is awesome!" I exclaimed;

In one corner, there was a television area with the latest technology along with a PS3 and an X-box Kinect. A long, plush L shaped couch was placed opposite the equipment as a sitting area and there were a couple of bean bags scattered beside the couch.

Across the room from that was a large King sized bed which took up most of the space of that wall. Beside a cupboard was placed that stretched from the side of the bed all the way to near the door. I honestly had no clue what I would do with all that space, but who cared.

On the other side of the door was a huge book case that spanned the entire length of the cabin, it contained countless games and movies; Percy stared at it in absolute awe and whistled, "This is amazing," he whispered.

I noticed another door on the other side of the bed; I ran across the cabin and through the door. For a second I stopped and stared. In the middle of the bathroom was a Jacuzzi encrusted in precious jewels to the left of it was a sink area which spanned the entire wall and was surrounded by long mirrors. On the wall beside the sink area and behind the Jacuzzi was a shower area that again spanned the entire wall.

The last wall had a movie theatre set and I could see that controls laced the edge of the Jacuzzi which I absolutely loved.

Percy now stood beside me and we both whistled in awe, "Well one thing I can say is it's much bigger on the inside than it is on the outside." I rolled my eyes, "No shit fucking Sherlock" I responded which earned me a large thwack at the back of my head.

"Come on, let's go check my cabin," he said giddy with excitement.

We were about to run out of the cabin when suddenly everything went black for a second and we were suddenly somewhere else.

"What the actual fuck?" I asked taking a look around. We stood in the middle of what looked like a fancy restaurant and when I looked down at myself I was no longer in jeans but fully suited in a tuxedo.

"Excuse moi, Est-ce que tu m'aide?" asked a man who I assumed was a waiter,

I was about to reply when a man answered for me, then he gestured at Percy and I to follow him. I was a bit apprehensive but we went along anyway.

We reached another table where a man was in a green dress shirt and trousers. The man in black gestured for us to sit across from them and then I took my time to study him. He had pale skin much like mine and oily jet black hair, the pupils of his eyes were completely black and held a steady cold look.

The man beside him had black hair much like his, but shorter, his sea green eyes sparkled and the smile lines beside his eyes added to his friendly demeanour. He had tan skin and reminded me eerily of Percy.

"No offence, but who are you and why are we here?" I asked rather boldly but i had an itching feeling at the back of my head that i already knew the answer to that.

"Hello Son," the man in the black suit said with a raised eyebrow.

All words left my mouth and all thoughts escaped me. He is my father, the one I have finally met after eighteen years.

Then I was angry, "You waited eighteen years before we go any further please just tell me why?"

"I had to, Zeus decreed it. If I came into contact with you and you realised who you were or got any closer to the truth he would have destroyed you. But Nico, you aren't any son of Hades, you are a chosen one." I was still silently fuming, what the fuck does he mean by a chosen one? I immediately voiced my thoughts,

"A chosen one means at birth, the fates decree you more powerful than your peers or siblings. You are to be a special one and much more powerful. And at a certain age, you will be offered immortality to rule by my side for the rest of eternity."

To say I was shocked would be an understatement, I was at an utter loss for words, thoughts and I think I forgot to _breathe. _

"Breath Nico," the other man said with an amused smile. I noticed that Percy was still staring at him and hadn't said a word. But I was still curious about some things, "What happened to my mother, how did she die?"

"Nico, there is a lot you need to know about your past it is long and it is complicated. Many things will be revealed to you some now, some later."

I looked at him; I wonder if he could tell what I was and that I was no longer human. He looked into my eyes for a second then touched my arms as if checking for a pulse and then grimaced deeply.

"My son, what happened to you? Why do I not hear a heartbeat and why do I sense your apprehension and fright." I looked over at Percy and noticed that Poseidon seemed to be studying him carefully then he looked into Percy's eyes for a second and gasped, "No!"

Hades seemed to catch on very quickly, "This cannot be, the last time this happened was over millennia ago, and I thought we wiped them out. Poseidon this has complicated things by a tenfold."

I looked blankly at them; I knew they had figured it out, "What is going to happen to us?" I asked slightly frightened,

"When were you bitten boy?" Poseidon questioned,

"A little over a week ago why?" I answered,

"And have you drunk human blood or had any cravings to?"

"Not really, on the first day we were a bit tempted but that was because we hadn't had anything. Why what does it mean?"

"Do you still have use of your powers?" Hades drilled,

"Yes we do but what does this have to do with anything?" Percy answered now coming out of his trance.

"You were bitten by a vampire for a normal mortal that would mean, eye colour changes, skin turns diamond hard and glitters in the sun, increased agility, strength and senses and crystallization in time. But for a half-blood the game changes," Hades began in a grim tone,

"Yes you have increase agility and senses and your skin becomes as impenetrable as diamond but not as hard so you don't glitter in the sun. The immortal blood in your veins stops you from losing the attributes given to you by the gods such as eye colour or powers. And for the first few weeks it allows you to be very resistant to blood. But the last part doesn't last forever," Explained Poseidon.

"As a special kind of vampire, you will be reliant on immortal food and mortal blood. Be wary and learn to resist, you are now a big threat to Olympus and Zeus will not be happy but remember you are almost twice as powerful as a normal half blood, even one of the big three. And with great power, comes great responsibility." Hades finished

"Now that most of the doom and gloom is over, we wanted to treat you two to a quick dinner and ask about your powers" Poseidon said in a new and cheery tone.

**PERCY**

"Wait before we get to that, I have a few questions. First what do these bracelets do, secondly if I am to become an heir and rule by your side what will become of triton and your other wife, and lastly what really happened to my mother where is she?"

Poseidon, I notice,d became increasingly stiff as I asked my questions,

"Percy, my wife Amphitrite and my son Triton abandoned me many years ago I have not seen or heard a word from them since. And I have no idea about the whereabouts of your mother but I haven't stopped searching. I love her and no she isn't dead." He looked down and I kind of felt sorry for him,

"You know what; let's just forget it we'll talk about it later. So what do our bracelet things do?" I said trying to lighten the mood but it still hurt; _my mother wasn't dead_ was all i could really focus on

"Oh they're armour and shields. It has three modes, training mode, Battle mode one, and full battle mode. Yours Percy was forged under the Sea, it acts as your second skin helps heighten your power usage. I want you to find out all its modes yourself so I won't spoil the fun." Poseidon said with a grin.

"Yours is the same Nico, it can also help you with shadow travelling."

Nico looked blankly at Hades, "What on earth are you talking about?"

"What you haven't discovered your power to walk through a connected pathway of shadows to any location you want?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"No, I uh, haven't" Nico replied sheepishly,

"Well then you have a lot to learn my boy," he commented with a slight laugh.

My father and I laughed and we continued talking like we were a normal family. We knew it wouldn't be like this often but for the moment we were cherishing it.

* * *

Nico and were deposited at camp half-blood approximately five hours after we left so it was already curfew, I said my goodbyes to Nico and sprinted out of his cabin to mine next door. I got in and stood frozen. My cabin was as amazing as Nico's; it had blue walls and a transparent floor that had a pool beneath it which spanned the entire cabin floor making it a thirty five meter pool easily.

My bed was on the opposite side of the cabin from the entertainment system. The wall where the system was set up was just a thin strip which divided two sets of French doors from each other. Through the doors I had a beautiful view of the lake and the beach.

As I walked through my bathroom, I still saw the swimming pool under the floor and I wondered how I would get to it, then I noticed the Jacuzzi In the middle of the room. The bathroom was the exact same as Nico's but with different colours and the Jacuzzi also had a button which said swimming pool so I'm guessing there's a way to get there through that.

I marvelled at my sweet cabin then decided to change and climb into bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.


	5. Chapter 5

**CH 5**

**Percy **

I sat at breakfast after scraping my offering into the fire and I had a thought_, if I could order whatever I wanted with my goblet, could I order blood?_

I decided it wouldn't hurt to try so I took the cup and whispered blood. Immediately the cup was filled with blood, I tasted it and it seemed fine so I drank the rest of it.

I whispered Nico's name, "Di Angelo, I found a way to keep us fed in camp. Whisper blood to your goblet and it actually gives blood."

I saw him lean in and I heard him whisper "Blood" then stare in amazement as his cup filled with the red liquid.

He gave me thumbs up and downed his "breakfast" eagerly.

We left the dining pavilion and went towards the Arena to train with Beckendorf. The arena was completely empty because of how early it was and the fact that everyone else was at breakfast, so I took it as an opportunity to test my armour.

Beckendorf sat at the edge of the arena waiting for me so I waved him over. I looked at my bracelet and tapped on the right horse. Then suddenly two sticks lines began to wind themselves on to me from the bracelet. They continued winding till they had formed a classic breastplate armour piece in dark blue.

I thought Beckendorf's eyes were going to pop out of the sockets, "How did you get that?" he asked still in a semi trance state,

"Present, now let's get training. So we can see what Nico and I have." Beckendorf nodded and smiled,

"We'll start with just me, and then I'll keep adding automatons. Just tell me when you're tired and I'll stop them, starting with you Percy.

I brought riptide out of my pocket and clicked on it. Beckendorf counted down then charged at me,

Everything was in slow motion so it was a tad too easy to dodge his attack. But I also had to be careful to do things extra slowly.

I brought riptide up and blocked another attack at my head.

Beckendorf and I went on, and then he added two automatons, then three, then four, then five, then six, then seven, then eight, then nine. But as they kept coming I kept destroying them and at a point when I saw he wasn't even there, I spied him standing near the edge of the arena watching me in awe as I continued decapitating automatons. Soon after, he raised his hand up to signal that there were no more automatons left for me to destroy.

"Wow, you're pretty good for a beginner. You'll do great at capture the flag and with training you could be the greatest swords man in camp!" he smiled excitedly,

"Thanks mate, I'll keep that in mind," I turned to Nico with a smirk, "Your turn Di Angelo!"

"Whatever Percy," he said rolling his eyes, and then he tapped his bracelet and was wrapped in classic style armour similar to mine but in pitch black.

"Beckendorf, I'm not going to take offence only defence so I don't mistakenly kill you" Nico stated,

"That's fine, let's go!" he shouted back and he begun to attack.

Nico had skill, he was the only one who could ever rival my skill and when we were put against each other in Individual Fencing competition we always had to draw sticks beforehand to determine who would throw the match.

By now Nico was battling four automatons then he suddenly summoned four skeleton warriors and stood standing and watching them. Beckendorf seemed impressed and added another four automatons; Nico used his blade sever an automaton's head, and then threw his sword through the two that were charging at him one directly before the other.

The last one was running towards him and he kicked it back and summoned his sword from the ground. The black blade rose and flew into his grasp then he impaled the sword in the automatons chest.

"Yes! Both of you are phenomenal! My team has a chance at winning" he exclaimed grinning like a Cheshire cat.

I laughed at his smile and bowed, "Happy to be of assistance sir," which caused Beckendorf to crack up with laughter. "You Know, I've always wanted to hear and English person say that"

Nico and I snorted and we all cracked up again.

We were all still laughing and trying to teach Beckendorf how to do an accent when we saw a stocky girl coming towards the Arena with a group of buff, scaring looking guys behind her.

"Yo Beckendorf, who are the two newbie dweebs you have here?" the girl asked,

"Oh, hey Clarisse these are the two sons of the big three; Percy son of Poseidon and Nico, son of hades." Beckendorf answered

Clarisse eyed us then cracked up laughing, "Really? Sons of the big three, them? They look like wimps and I'm sure I can cream them" she finished in a menacing tone

I glanced at Nico obviously he was relaxed. There was no way in a million years she would ever be able to beat us but she seemed to think so.

"So what do you say punk? Think you can beat me" she asked looking straight at me,

I smiled slightly and shrugged, "I guess I could try, I mean it couldn't hurt me could it?" my smile growing more pronounced with every word.

Clarisse growled then looked at Nico, "once I finish creaming your friend, you are next."

Nico gave her a cold look, "I don't think so"

She smirked; "why you scared?" her siblings laughed and sneered at him,

Nico's glare only grew colder, "I'm the son of the devil, and _you_ can't scare me"

Clarisse's smirk faltered slightly, but she didn't seem like the kind to back down. I laughed mentally at Nico doing his whole son of Hades thing.

"That doesn't mean I can't cream you and send you right back to your daddy. Admit it, you're a pussy" she continued taunting.

If it was even possible, Nico's glare hardened and his black pupils seemed to expand over the white of his eyes, soon his eyes were to pitch black orbs, This coupled with a smile made him look absolutely scary to them, "Cara Ragazza, I'm not scared and you know it. The problem here is that I don't want to kill you"

Beckendorf looked amused at the scenario and I watched as Clarisse's eyes widened slightly. But she was brave I had to give it to the girl,"

She stood still for a second seemingly contemplating what she was going to do. Then she snapped her fingers and two of her brothers reluctantly came forward. "Well, it looks like we're just going to do this the hard way."

Then she charged me and set one of her brothers on Nico. I waited for her to get closer as she ran towards me at full speed with her spear thrust out in front of her. When she was close enough, I side stepped and slashed through her spear with Riptide. And she ran forward, unable to stop the momentum, and fell flat on her face.

She got up and now she looked livid, I just smirked. She drew her sword and we circled each other the she charged again. I blocked her strike and she swung again but this time she made a mistake; she attacked me from too close a range so I blocked her strike again and this time I disarmed her with a quick hit to her fingers. Before she could even react, my sword was at her neck.

I smirked and clicked on riptide returning it to pen form. I saw Nico standing beside Clarisse's two brothers on the floor "Well that was quick" I chirped. Beckendorf guffawed and had to try and breathe through his laughter to pass a message,

"Guys, we ha-have to-to go no-ow, It's the Ares Cabin's tu-turn to-to train"

We smiled widely and I turned back to Clarisse, "It was really nice to meet you and your cabin. I hope I'll see you around"

Nico chuckled and summoned a skeleton soldier to bow at the brothers before it disintegrated and we left the arena towards the Archery range.

We walked towards the archery range and, no surprise, found the Apollo cabin there. A guy with sandy blonde hair, sun kissed skin, shining blue eyes and pearly white teeth spotted us and ran up to us. He held a golden bow on his back and was clad in an orange camp T-shirt and jeans. "Hey Beckendorf, are these the new guys?" he asked with a friendly smile

"Yeah they are, Will, meet Percy Jackson and Nico Di Angelo and boys meet Will Solace, Head Councillor of the Apollo cabin and the best archer in camp,"

Will stuck out his hand to shake each of us, "So Sons of the big three, from what I've heard you are supposed to suck at archery but who am I to judge? Come let's go find you guys some bows to use."

He led us over to a rack which had bows lined up in order of size. "Here," he said pulling two of the larger ones, "try these for size."

Nico and I collected the bows and held them awkwardly, "Um sorry but we've never actually held bows before so a little help would be great."

Will and Beckendorf laughed and Will called one of the other boys from his cabin to help us.

Once we were set up and they had showed us the basics, I positioned myself ready to shoot an arrow. I calculated the angle to hold my bow at and how much force to apply to pulling the arrow. I pulled the string back and let the arrow fly.

It was the coolest thing ever, I felt like I was watching it fly in almost slow motion but in real life I knew it was going a lot faster than that.

I can't say I was surprised when it stuck right in the centre of the target. I heard clapping, "That was great especially for a son of Poseidon and on the first try," Will praised and even Beckendorf had a surprised smile as he nodded his head approvingly.

Nico gave me a look and swiftly whispered so Beckendorf and Will wouldn't hear or even know he had spoken, "Way to go Percy, we have to lay low for now. I really want Beckendorf to win capture the flag so we want to be the element of surprise. Now discredit it and miss the next few shots."

"Uh, thanks Will but I honestly think that was beginners luck plus this is at a ridiculously close range. I'm quite sure I will not be hitting anymore bulls eyes."

"We'll see about that. Go ahead notch another arrow,"

I did as he said and then I aimed for a certain point on the outer rim and shot. I smiled inwardly because to them it looked as if I had failed, but to me I was practising shooting.

After a few more purposely failed shots, Nico came up and did the exact same thing. I could see Will and Beckendorf shaking their heads at how bad we were. I smirked at Nico and winked.

Soon we heard the conch horn for lunch and Beckendorf left to lead his cabin, Nico and I decided to skip lunch since we weren't exactly "hungry".

We stayed at the Archery range and started doing shots that were a lot harder. I stood at the other end of the range and shot an arrow to a rapidly moving target. The arrow hit the centre of the bulls eye, and then I shot another arrow and it ripped that one in two.

"I guess we have archery down all we have to do is find cool bows," Nico said glancing at the split arrows.

* * *

We spent the rest of the week training in secret and preparing for capture the flag. As vampires we didn't really need much training except maybe when we were training on how not to expose ourselves.

It got to the afternoon before capture the flag and we had just come out from "lunch" when Beckendorf ran up to us and told us we'd been summoned

"Hey, Chiron wants you guys to meet the theoretical heads of camp; Annabeth and Thalia come on."

Beckendorf filled us in on whom Annabeth Chase and Thalia Grace were as we walked towards the big house, "Annabeth is the smartest girl and like the best strategist. She's also head councillor of the Athena cabin and has been since she was thirteen." He must have noticed my strange look because he went on to explain, "Councillor is not done by age, it's done by the person who has been around the longest or has gone on the most quests. And Annabeth has been a member of camp for eleven years, since she was seven."

My eyes widened, "That's a bloody long time"

Beckendorf nodded, "It's the same for Thalia but neither of them has been on quests. They are basically camp leaders and know everything there is to know. Even Chiron doesn't keep secrets from them if he can help it. Oh and to warn you they are the best fighters at camp, even Clarisse doesn't stand a chance against them, so don't do anything stupid plus they have pretty short tempers."

We both nodded silently and walked into the big house to see a pudgy man in Hawaii patterned shirt, Bermuda shorts and slippers, sitting at the table with a game of Pac man and swearing loudly at the game. He seemed to notice us and looked up, he studied us,

"So you are the spawns of Poseidon and Hades humph. Welcome to camp bla bla bla, go through and stop being a nuisance; Annie Beth and Thira are talking to the centaur in there. He pointed to the door and returned to cursing at his game,

I raised my eyebrows at Beckendorf who smiled and explained, "Oh don't mind him he's like that to everyone. His name is Mr D and he's Camp Director which he doesn't like being so it makes him cranky."

"So why doesn't he quit" came my bewildered response,

"Because he's been punished by Zeus to stay here for a century banned from alcohol,"

"What? I don't understand this" I said feeling immensely confused.

"He's the god of wine Percy that was Dionysus, Zeus's son" Nico said in a deadpanned voice

I blinked startled for a second then couldn't find anything to say so we just kept walking

We entered the room and I came face to face with a girl with short raven coloured hair and electric blue eyes. She was decked in all black with ripped skinny jeans a tank top and skinny jeans. I couldn't see her feet so I didn't know what she was wearing. She was tall, for a girl anyway, and she was insanely beautiful. She stood behind the table beside Chiron who sat facing the door.

There was another girl who occupied one of the chairs for guests and she sat with her long legs stretched out on the table. She was wearing a blue jacket and skinny jeans with Nike Air sneakers. Her long blond curly hair cascaded down her back in luscious waves.

Chiron looked and noticed us, "Ah boys thank you for joining us, thank you Beckendorf you may return to your activities" Beckendorf bowed and smirked at us before he left the room.

"Hello Chiron, we heard you wanted to see us. Is anything the problem?" I asked trying to ignore the stares of the girl in black.

"Yes, please my boys someone take a seat. Girls, this is Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and prince of the seas and his best friend, Nico Di Angelo, son of hades and prince of the underworld."

I smiled slightly at them and did a little bow, "How do you do?"

The girl in black snorted, "Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus. I do fine thanks,"

The other girl stood up and I looked down to inspect her; she was hot, very hot. Underneath her blue jacket she wore a tank top that clung to her body, it even showed a little midriff so her toned stomach and body were accentuated. She inspected me with slightly wide eyes and pink cheeks before she raised an eyebrow and stretched her out her hand and spoke,

"Hey I'm Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena." I looked into her eyes as I shook her hand and her beautiful grey eyes captured me. But of course I shouldn't show that so I let go of her hand after the normal amount of time.

I stepped back as Nico shook their hands, his signature smile on his face. I sat on the seat and Annabeth stiffened. It was such a slight gesture, like a reflex that I wondered if anyone else saw it.

"So Chiron, what's up?" asked Annabeth,

"Do you see the bands on the gentlemen's hands?" he asked

Annabeth and Thalia both turned their attention towards us and I lifted my right hand out to let them see the band. Annabeth thought for a second then her eyes seemed to widen, "Is that what I think it is?"

Chiron nodded, "Yes child, a Symbol of Royalty."

"So that's what it's called!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, it's a sign from the fates that the child of a God or Goddess is destined for immeasurable greatness. Children with this are more powerful than their peers and are usua-"

"Yeah we know, offered immortality to rule by our fathers for the rest of eternity" Nico finished.

"How did you two punks find out haven't you been here like a total of a week?" Thalia asked,

"Thalia, no need to be rude," chided Chiron,

"Sorry Chiron, but still how did you find out?" she asked.

"Well, after we looked around my cabin, which is the best thing ever, we were zapped to France to have dinner with our Dads then they explained a couple of things to us."

The fact that Nico said cabin seemed to surprise the girls, "Cabin, since when does hades have a cabin?"

"Since I came, Dad said it was a gift. And it is the sweetest present" Nico said wistfully.

"The Poseidon cabin got an upgrade as well" I said dreamily.

"Earth to boys, wake up," Thalia said in a sing song voice as she snapped her fingers in front of our noses.

Chiron chuckled, "Thalia, I have decided it would be better if the Zeus, Poseidon and Hades trained together. Annabeth if you would like you can join them sometimes."

I glanced at Nico, "That would be pretty cool, Thanks Chiron. I get tired of training with my own brother every time." Thalia then turned and looked at us, "Do you guys have any experience sword fighting?"

"Well, kind of; we did fencing back in England but we hadn't had any training in this world."

"Do you guy plan on staying year round or only for the summer?" Annabeth asked

"Err, we plan on staying only for the summer. We're starting at NYU in the fall," Nico answered

"So you'll live with your mortal parents then?"

I stiffened although I knew she wouldn't notice, I saw Nico's jaw tightened but I controlled my voice and responded to Annabeth's question,

"No, we have a flat to ourselves." My tone remained the same though I was secretly hoping she wouldn't probe more. But Nico seemed to think she would so he spoke,

"So what about you girls?" tactfully removing the attention from us

"We just got accepted into NYU which is where we're going" Thalia said with a smile

"Awesome, I guess we'll be seeing much more of each other then." I smiled

"Which reminds me, are you guys on a team for capture the flag?"

I turned to face Annabeth who asked the question, "Yeah, we're with Beckendorf's team"

Thalia stifled a laugh, "that's cool but I hope you guys don't get hurt though. You are newbies after all"

"Oh don't worry about us, we will be just fine" I said as I swiftly winked at Nico who cracked a grin.

"Well children I'm happy you are well acquainted. Now it's time to prepare for capture the flag."

I smiled looked at the girls, "Well it was nice meeting you. We'll meet again on the battlefield and may the best team win." I winked at them and got up to leave with Nico who was already outside the room.

Nico and I ran up to Beckendorf as he was telling them the strategy,

"Have you told them the plan?" I asked

"Yeah they're a bit on edge seeing as you guys are newbies and all, but it seems like we have nothing to lose so let's do this"

The plan was simple; it was Nico, some sons of Apollo and I going after the flag. We had the whole Hermes cabin, the rest of the Apollo cabin and some sons of Hephaestus as the main fighting force. And then rest of the Hephaestus cabin would be guarding the flag.

The Hermes Cabin and the Hephaestus cabin together had set up some pretty awesome traps and we had convinced Beckendorf to make us some bows for the time being.

Nico and I stood at the edge and told the Apollo campers to scatter and make it to the flag unnoticed. The Blue team had their flag at the other side of the forest and we had the pile of rocks called Zeus's Fist.

The river was equidistant to the two places and as long as I was anywhere near there, our flag was not getting to their territory.

We heard the conch horn and Nico and I set of, our Armour was in Battle mode one and it was more agile and lighter than training mode, it also acted as camouflage so we wouldn't be seen.

We ran quickly to their territory, not bothering with human speed and I caught site of the Apollo sons. I could see their flag and I spotted the guard protecting it. Unfortunately the daughter of Zeus was amongst the people guarding the flag.

I alerted Nico and the Apollo campers to begin the attack. They remained hidden and shot arrows at the guards, taking them down one by one.

Thalia noticed and drew her shield, but by then most of the guards were down. I told Nico to distract her while I got the flag and he walked forward slowly but surely his sword by his side. I heard them talk a bit then she attacked.

The Apollo cabin took out the rest of the guards and I made my way to their flag.

I was the definition of stealth itself, I grabbed the flag as Nico continued to fight with her. She was good but Nico was stronger and faster. I made sure I was a little way away before I shouted back to Nico, "I have the flag, finish this up"

Then I heard Beckendorf on the telecoms system he gave to Nico and I, "Annabeth has the flag, she's heading for the river and she's invisible."

I poured on the speed and got to the River but I didn't cross it. I could smell Annabeth she was getting closer and I was sure she could see me with their flag. I suddenly had an idea, right before she got to the river, I made the water form a giant wall made and then I trapped her in a box of water.

I smiled widely and I crossed the river and signalled to Beckendorf and Nico that we just won. This caused the entire team to erupt into mad cheers.

I looked over at the water box to see Annabeth inside, now visible, with our flag in her hand standing right at the bank of the river. In her eyes I could see several emotions, shock, anger, disbelief and more anger.

I laughed when I then spotted Thalia in a prison made of obsidian rocks being levitated by Nico. She looked livid and this made our team even happier.

Chiron trotted up with an immensely amused smile on his face and declared us the winners. The banner then shimmered and the Hephaestus cabin symbol appeared on it.

Our team mates cheered again and we were carried out on the shoulders of our team mates after releasing Annabeth and Thalia who were still livid.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank's so much for the reviews. Please leave a few more, i don't want to give much away but it may be a Thalico story and no i will not use the word "snogged" :p **

Annabeth,

I walked through the forest after just losing the first capture the flag game in almost six years. Beside me my best friend walked still shaking her head in disbelief.

I reminisced on the events of the game;

_For today's game I had decided to use one of our usual strategies, we were up against the best archers, the largest cabin and the best trap setters. We had done this before and won easily so this time should be only a bit more difficult with two extra super powerful demi-gods. _

_I knew I shouldn't ignore the fact that we would be up against the two most powerful demi gods in camp so I decided that Thalia should split up; I would take offence, she would take defence. _

_I had assumed Beckendorf would put the newbies on defence duty but just in case I put an extra couple of Ares and Athena campers on defence and took more Athena campers with me on offence. _

_I knew the mines of traps would be intense so I also brought some Aphrodite's along so they could get stuck in the traps. Once I heard the conch horn I was off, my invisibility cap on my head. I was running faster going harder. I didn't have much time because I didn't want to give Nico and Percy a chance to get into the stride of things before I won the game._

_ I spotted the flag being heavily guarded by Beckendorf and his siblings. The Athena and Aphrodite cabins that were with me on direct offence were doing their jobs though. I saw an Aphrodite camper make a grab for the flag, he was instantly zapped but now the flag was lying on the floor. _

_Another Athena camper again tried grabbing it, but this time ropes shot out from somewhere I didn't see and wrapped themselves around his body. I didn't know how many other backup traps were left but I prayed there wouldn't be any more._

_I ran forward dodging swords and arrows; I grabbed the flag and sprinted away. I was about thirty metres from the river when I saw him. He was at the bank of the river just standing there, I wonder why he didn't cross and win. I decided not to tempt fate and I ran even faster knowing he couldn't see me so I wasn't expecting him to shoot an arrow at me with that bow on his back._

_I was two metres away from the river, which held my victory on its other bank, when I saw a huge wall of water rise up and enclose me in a box. I looked over at Percy standing there looking straight at me with a smirk on his face._

_I took off my cap accepting defeat as he literally walked on the water to cross the river. He then looked back at me with a smirk that I so desperately wanted to wipe of his face. He was devastatingly attractive, I couldn't deny it, but at this point nothing would have made me happier than to see his neck at the tip of my dagger._

_But I was still curious, how did he know I was at this particular position? The box was too small for him to have been taking a random guess at my exact location. I was even more surprised when I saw a large prison made of obsidian walls being levitated towards the lake in front of Nico. She did not look happy to have been beaten by a newbie at all. _

_The sight of Thalia and I in prisons just made their team cheer more but I was fuming. I expected the water on my head as he released me and I was about to throw my dagger at his skull, but to my utmost surprise, as soon as the water doused me and made me soaking wet, I was dry again. All this was done as he was being carried on the shoulders of his team mates through the forest on his way back to camp._

_Thalia's stone prison was higher up than I thought, but it floated to the ground and the four walls just sunk into the ground. I took one good look at her and stepped back a couple of metres. She was covered in electricity and one false move would send me to Hades._

I had now managed to calm Thalia down as she recounted her experience with the son of Hades,

"Annabeth I couldn't believe it, they said they hadn't had much training? He beat me, the newbie beat me!" she shouted,

"The worst part is he seemed to be dodging my attacks not really attacking like he was trying to not kill me! His armour was like amazing and he was fast and agile. I even shot his sword out of his hand at one point and aimed a lightning bolt at him, but he just raised a wall and moved backwards. Once the dust cleared he just kicked Aegis away and sliced my spear in half. Then he trapped me in the fucking wall and brought me to public disgrace!" she screamed and blasted a pile of rocks with a lightning bolt.

I didn't even know what to do, she already knew about my encounter with the son of Poseidon and how I now had a real challenge at camp.

We walked into the pavilion to find the celebration in full swing; there were a bunch of people fawning over the Sons of the big three. I was so sure they were going to get massive egos now; I just rolled my eyes and walked over to Thalia's table. It was the only time where we were allowed to seat anywhere and I always sat with Thalia.

She was still pretty angry but she seemed to have calmed down a bit. I got my food and walked over to give my offering to Athena, I was so absorbed in my thoughts about the game that I didn't even notice Nico beside me.

"Hey Annabeth, that was a great game!" he said which caused me to jump in fright,

"Gods Nico you scared me," I said letting out a sigh of relief,

"Oh did I? I'm truly sorry about that." I couldn't help but listen to his wonderful accent and musical voice as he said that,

"Err, it's fine" I responded in a slightly distracted manner, "What's up?" I asked,

"Nothing really, I really enjoyed the game and fighting with Thalia. I have to say she is a remarkable fighter!" he commented,

This isn't what I expected, I thought confused. I was so sure he'd be a smug ass about the whole thing but I decided to play along, "But apparently you are better seeing as you managed to beat her,"

He chuckled slightly, "Trust me; she is more skilled than me. I am just faster and stronger with better reflexes." I rolled my eyes at his comment and made my way towards the Zeus table. He seemed to follow me and for a second I thought he would sit with us, but he walked passed me to the Poseidon table and sat with Percy but he looked back for a second,

"It was nice talking to you Annabeth" he said with a smile then he returned to his conversation with Percy

Thalia looked at me and raised an eyebrow, "What was that about?"

"Nothing, he was just talking to me about the game. He told me he thought you were a remarkable fighter and that he was sure you were more skilled but that he was just stronger faster and with better reflexes." I said nonchalantly while eating my food.

I knew Thalia was so angry, "stronger, faster and with better reflexes?" she screeched. I saw her point at Nico's head and shoot a bolt but before it could make contact he lightly moved his head to the left and Percy moved his head right so the bolt flew between them and struck some Demeter kid's head and he passed out.

Thalia and I openly gaped at the scene before us, as Percy and Nico rose easily from their seats and looked at the Demeter kid everyone was now gathered around. He was fed ambrosia and woke up instantly.

Every one let out a sigh of relief especially Thalia, then Percy and Nico looked at us and began walking over.

When they got here they sat down on the bench opposite ours and looked at us steadily. I analysed them intently. Both had pitch black hair that wasn't very long and pale skin, Percy's skin was more tanned but not by much. Their faces were not very similar in bone structure but they were both disgustingly good looking with their perfect white teeth. To top it off, Percy had sea green eyes and Nico's eyes were black as night.

"Why did you try to electrocute me?" Nico asked genuinely confused, I hated the accent; I had always had a weak spot for it,

"How did you know I was going to electrocute you," Thalia defended,

"Well I heard you screech the same sentence I said to Annabeth, and Percy saw you point a finger at my head so he told me to move" he replied easily,

I was puzzled, I was sure Percy didn't even look up let alone see Thalia's hand but I let it go,

"Well I didn't like what you said" Thalia replied sounding like a little kid,

"But it was the truth, I am faster, stronger and have better reflexes, but you have a lot more skill."

"I doubt you have better reflexes or are faster, stronger maybe but I want a re match"

Nico rolled his eyes and gave a slight grin, "I hope you don't think I'm just saying all that because I think you're a girl ergo you must be weaker than me?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow

Thalia faltered, I knew this had something to do with her insufferable pride. But if I was honest with myself, I was thinking the exact same thing about Nico.

Thalia steeled her gaze and sat up right, "I know it is, boys are sexist pigs and I want that rematch!"

Nico shrugged, "No problem, now or tomorrow?"

"Now" Thalia said.

"Cool, we'll meet you at the arena or should we all just head down there together?" Nico asked looking at me and Thalia

"We'll meet you there," I replied before Thalia could say anything.

The two boys nodded and got up to leave, walking out of the pavilion towards the arena.

I looked at Thalia, "Really? You can't accept defeat?"

"Tell me if Percy beat you with as much experience as you have, then said those things that you wouldn't have asked for a re-match?" she defended

I looked down and shrugged, "Okay then let's go."

Nico POV

Percy and I reached the arena and decided to fight a bit at high speed. My blade couldn't hurt Percy so I didn't have to hold back. I knew anyone who watched wouldn't see most of what we were doing, we sparred, parried, kicked, blocked, dodged, flipped and other things at high speed until we heard Thalia and Annabeth coming then we slowed down phenomenally.

I hated fighting like this, but what was I supposed to do?

Thalia and Annabeth entered suited in their armour, Percy raised an eyebrow.

Annabeth, POV

As we walked into the arena, we saw Percy and Nico sparing a bit and then we watched them stop and face us. Percy, I noticed, had a raised eyebrow as he looked at me but I chose to ignore it.

"Alright Nico, let's do this." Thalia said as she walked into the centre of the Arena.

Nico held his blade at his side then I noticed something, the blade was black as night. I ran up to Thalia as she went towards him and I stopped her, "Thalia is that the sword he used to fight you earlier when he was being cautious?" she looked at it and nodded, "Yes it is why?"

I turned to him and looked him in the eyes then I looked at the sword and finally back at Thalia, "That blade of that sword is made from Stygian Iron, one touch and it kills you," Thalia looked awed, "I haven't heard of that, why don't all demi gods have that then?" she asked confused,

"Because they are made only for the children of Hades and can only be used by them." I answered.

She nodded but proceeded to walk to the centre of the arena, I saw her draw her sword and Aegis which Nico saw but barely flinched.

They stood still then Thalia attacked her strike was fast and directed to his side, he raised his sword and intercepted it being careful not to touch Thalia's leg. She then raised her shield to his head but he moved back and dodged the blow. She swung again at his legs at the same time swinging her shield to his head, this time he just jumped and kicked her shield in such quick succession that he was almost blurred.

Thalia was fighting hard; she was concentrating and hitting him with everything. But Nico was right, his skill level was lower but he was faster and his superior reflexes helped him substantially. Thalia locked his sword between the base of her sword and her shield above their heads and kicked him in the stomach. But he just jumped out of the way letting his sword go.

Of course Thalia thought she had won, she threw his sword at the other end of the arena and charged him, the tip of her sword charged with electricity. She then shot it at him but he dodged it, only his shoes were slightly singed.

"Oh my fucking days, these are Ferragamo's and they actually cost a bloody fortune" he said looking at his now burnt leather shoes. Not even minding that Thalia was running at him with an extended sword

He sighed then moved to the left dodging Thalia's blow. I noticed that all this time he had made not one move to attack her, she was tiring but he also hadn't broken a sweat.

Thalia then knocked him across the head with her shield and he went down then rolled out of the way before her sword could pin him down.

He knocked her on her but on his way up and grabbed her shield from her tossing it away. Now it was just her and her sword. She ran at him again he ran away from her. She stopped and looked at him oddly. He looked more focused on his shoes than he was on her.

Thalia seemed to notice this and ran towards her shield, suddenly an array of skeleton warrior clawed its way out of the ground and stood in front of her shield blocking her access. I saw Nico walking up casually behind her. One of the skeletons pointed behind her and Thalia swung her hand but Nico caught it above her head.

They now stood like that, with her sword above her head, she tried to knee him in the crotch but as she was sending her knee up, he somehow managed to swipe her second foot from under her causing her to land on the floor with her sword in his hand.

She kicked his feet out from under him and he too fell to the ground, then she grabbed her sword and was about to stand up but his sword was at her neck.

He won, she still sat there trying to process the fact that he had won again.

He stood up and walked straight to Percy, "She burnt my Limited Edition Salvatore Ferragamo sneakers! They cost me six hundred quid you know, and they don't even sell these anymore!"

"It's okay Nico; I'll ask Lawrence if he can get you another pair and I'll even have them customized." He said in a sarcastically soothing voice.

"Fuck of Jackson, don't be a dick. Where is she anyway?"

He looked back and he cracked a smile, I followed his gaze to where Thalia was sitting down having not moved since the end of the fight.

He walked back to her and held out a hand for her to get up. She seemed in a trance as she took his hand and was lifted up. Then his skeleton soldiers got her shield and brought it up to Nico and bowed before disintegrating and disappearing into the earth.

Nico held Thalia in his arms and had her shield and sword in his other hand as he walked her up to us. I looked at her and she looked absolutely dazed, "Does anyone have any water?" I asked looking at Percy.

He nodded and I saw a ball of water come towards us. It stopped beside Percy and transformed into a bowl shape. He sent it to me and I just looked at him oddly,

"What am I supposed to do with that I can't carry water with water, I'm not a spawn of Poseidon."

He narrowed his eyes slightly and I wondered if provoking him was a good idea, "Hold it, it's solid." He responded curtly.

I put my hands out and held the bowl of water then I dumped it on Thalia who immediately snapped out of her day dream and swore colourfully.

"What the fuck was that for?" She asked angrily as water dripped down form her head to her toes,

"You were in this weird shock like trance so we were worried" I shrugged

She then seemed to remember what had just happened so she looked at Nico,

"You weren't even on offence; you were on defence the entire time. You seemed more concerned with your damaged shoes than the actual fight and where the hell did your sword come from?" her voice kept increasing as she asked those questions.

"I was on defence because going offence means _trying_ to hit you and doing that would mean my sword would have to touch you and to be honest; I'm too much of a nice guy to kill anyone," He smiled then it turned into a slight pout, "And those shoes were my favourite shoes,"

Thalia just rolled her eyes and probed again, "And the sword?"

"Oh, I would tell you that but," dragging out the 'but' as he spoke, "A magician never tells his secret. Besides I have a totally unfair advantage in all of this."

"What you're a guy?" Thalia retorted causing Nico and Percy to chuckle and roll their eyes,

"No, I can't tell you guys, but I can promise that you'll find out soon. Well it really was great meeting and fighting with you girls and we'd love to hang out some more and learn some pro moves."

"Bye guys see you tomorrow!" Percy shouted and with that they both walked out of the arena.

I studied them as they left, they had this gracefulness in their walks and I could see them being dancers or part of a royal procession.

"Give me the analysis of that match," Thalia asked as we walked back to our cabins.

"He is faster, has longer endurance and better reflexes but I saw very little sword play from him that took my breath away. Although I don't know if it was because he was trying not to kill you or because he just didn't know what to do" I said as I remembered watching them fight.

Percy POV

The next morning I decided to stay in my cabin and miss breakfast because I wasn't exactly thirsty. I went into the shower and suddenly a thought formed in my head, why not go for a swim. I put on a pair of trunks and stepped into the hot tub in the middle of my bathroom. I pressed the button that said swimming pool and was instantly lowered in a kind of lift contraption.

I was surprised when I noticed that it wasn't just a pool, it also had a changing room and a tunnel which was labelled "To the beach"

Waiting for no one I hopped into the pool and my senses heightened even more if that was possible. I swam a couple of laps and decided to just chill out listening to the music that blared from the speakers in the underground pool house.

I could even still see my cabin and I was busy singing and having a blast when I saw Nico enter my cabin. He looked down he shook his head; he continued walking into my bathroom to get into the pool room.

"I'll never actually understand how the door to an underground swimming pool house is in the loo" he shook his head as he walked round the edge of the pool towards the sitting area.

"Whatever, you have a bloody diamond encrusted toilet seat so don't judge you wanker," I shot back at him.

"Come of it alright? Now onto the main order of business, I come bearing the worst news yet. We have to tell Chiron what we are before something happens and we're blamed," his voice turning calm and steely as he spoke,

"Yeah, I guessed we were going to have to do It sooner or later, but cheers for ruining my fucking morning swim" I growled.

"You dickhead, it's already nearly twelve. We have to go speak to him now so get your bloody arse out of the pool and end your fapping session" he was out of the room immediately as he knew I would probably drown him.

I swore under my breath and leaped through the hole in the ceiling, ignoring the lift like structure at my disposal.

As I walked out of the bathroom I heard the Jacuzzi return to its original size in a series of buzzing and hissing sounds.

I found Nico watching the Olympics on my TV and slapped the back of his head with enough force to smash a normal human beings skull.

"That's for ruining my swim and calling me a fap master. Let's go I'm dressed."

I pulled on my jacket as he sat there rubbing the back of his head as his eyes shot daggers at me.

"Fucker," he murmured under his breath, while following me out the door. I chuckled at his childish behaviour and walked over to the Big House.

As we walked over we saw many of our team mates smiling at us and waving; we smiled and waved back. When we walked past the arena, we could hear Thalia and another boy training, we heard her yelling instructions at him so I assumed she was training him.

We also walked past Annabeth leading a few of her cousins to the Archery range and I smiled at her. She nodded and walked past me without even so much as a smile.

"Harsh," I heard Nico chuckle.

When we finally got to the Big House we saw Chiron standing on the porch,

"Hello Percy, Nico, how may I help you?" he asked with a friendly smile.

"Hello Chiron, we have a very pressing issue that we need to talk to you about, in private."

He nodded and motioned for us to go into the room.

Once he was settled Nico and I were in the chairs behind the table facing him. I took a deep breath and spoke,

"So Chiron, we have something to tell you and we really hope you don't judge us for this, we are good guys and we would never do anything to hurt anybody."

Nico nodded in support but Chiron just looked puzzled, "Boys I don't understand, is anything wrong?"

"Well um, you see the thing is, before Nico and I came here we knew about our powers. I could manipulate water and he could manipulate skeleton warriors and the earth. One night we were walking home we were attacked. We managed to kill the creature that attacked us but it was too late. We were bitten and turned into vampires."

Chiron gasped and his eyes widened. He shook his head slowly as he stood up,

I knew this was it, he was about to throw us out of camp. I steeled myself and prepared for the worst.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks again for the reviews, Please continue to leave them.**

**Nico POV**

"This is extremely difficult, how is it that you boys are vampires and have not fed yet and if you have I deeply hope it wasn't on any of my campers?" asked Chiron, I shook my head quickly.

"So why did you expose yourselves?" he asked, "Surely that can't be a very good idea,"

"We know, but we didn't want an incident where something bad happens and we're discovered in a more implicating way,"

Chiron nodded, "I have heard of your kind, but I have never one of them before. Half god, half vampire," he mused "You must be very powerful,"

"Shall we head over to the arena or the archery range? I need to see the speed and agility with my own eyes." his voice still disbelieving.

I nodded and looked at Percy; we had a silent discussion and it was decided. I would show him what we could do, what we were capable of.

We walked out of the big house with Chiron right beside us; I guess people weren't used to that as they kept staring at us as we walked passed. We walked into the arena and saw Annabeth and Thalia fighting. Again I noticed their skill and scrutinised their movements in detail, memorising the sequence and patterns.

"Girls I need you to excuse me for a second; I need to train privately with Percy and Nico." Chiron called out to them.

They seemed very surprised at his request but they conceded not failing to glance at us with raised eyebrows as they walked past.

Once they were out, Chiron motioned for us to stay in the centre and he walked over to the edge of the arena and pressed a button.

Suddenly the entire arena was covered with a massive dome shaped shield. I could see outside clearly but I wasn't so sure they could see inside.

"Now boys, I just want to see how skilled you are, first we will do archery. There will be ten targets and each one harder than the last. Hit the ten targets in as little time as possible. Nico you go to the left, Percy you the right."

He waited for us as we walked to the opposite sides of the arena then he counted us down, "Start in three, two, one, go!"

The bow Beckendorf made for me was in my hand with a quiver full of arrows as I began shooting. My heightened mind and senses made it a bit too easy and by the seventh target we had only been shooting for three seconds. I notched two arrows at once as I shot the eight, moved my bow a little to the left and shot the ninth.

The tenth target was the fastest and it was also the farthest away. I calculated the speed of the target and the speed of my arrow then I shot it. It hit the target and my buzzer went of a hundredth of a second before Percy's

We looked at Chiron whose surprise was etched clearly on his face.

"That was excellent, you certainly are fast. Now let's see you with the training Automatons and your swords then we will return to the big house to talk. You only have to beat fifteen of them, so this should be relatively simple."

I nodded and rubbed my ring for my sword to appear, I heard Percy click rip tide and watched as it grew to its full length.

We swung our swords around and stood waiting. I heard something behind me and I turned around and stabbed it the automatons came at us and Chiron was right, it was too simple. All too soon we were standing in the middle of a pile of dismantled machines

Chiron nodded seemingly assessing the situation. We still awaited his verdict on what would happen to us now. The arena returned to normal and I was not surprised to see Annabeth and Thalia run right up to us, "So how was training?" Thalia asked me,

"Erm, it was great thanks"

"Yes it was magnificent. Now young men, we still have some issues to discuss" he promptly turned and galloped back to the big house.

"See you ladies later," Percy called out as we jogged behind him.

"So Chiron, what do we do now?" I asked,

"You are a threat to the other campers, as far as you or I know, we cannot kill you," I made a move to speak but he cut me off, "Yes Nico, I know you defeated the other one with rocks and fire, but you have the power. To defeat you now, especially with your skill and Percy on your side, it would be virtually impossible." He shook his head,

"This is not including the fact that you are already nearly twice as powerful as your peers because of the crest of Royalty. You are a serious liability to Zeus as well who never really trusted his brothers. I cannot predict what would happen if I were to let you stay here." He looked at us,

I didn't know what to do, to be honest I was very frightened and I really did not want to be kicked out of camp,

"But Chiron, we're on your side we have been here a whole week and we haven't done anything wrong!" I exclaimed.

"I know that, but there have been some disturbances on Olympus and the gods are getting anxious. Zeus is bristling and looking for a culprit and most probably if he finds out about you he will not be so happy," Chiron looked at us as if he was looking at our coffins.

"But Chiron, we haven't even done anything! How do we even fit in with all this our case is completely different," Percy argued

"Olympus doesn't know that and neither do we. All we can do is sit and hope that the recent disturbances are not connected." He answered gravely,

"What other recent developments are there anyway?" Percy questioned.

Chiron just looked at him gravely again like he knew Percy was going to die soon,

"You will find out soon enough young heroes, but the appearance of the vampires at this time is what fazes me."

I was going to ask Chiron what he meant when Percy whispered to me, "Annabeth is spying and Thalia's behind the door. I'm going to get Annabeth and you bust Thalia."

I nodded swiftly. I heard Percy sigh and get up, and then I too got up and moved to the door which was not closed. Percy then walked up to the wall and motioned to kick the wall then he stopped short and pulled of Annabeth's cap. She stood up against the wall looking beet red. I chuckled lightly and called out to Thalia, "You can come in now Thalia,"

The girls stood glaring daggers at us and I had to keep myself from bursting out in laughter.

"Ladies, please go to the pavilion I believe it's time for lunch?" Chiron said curtly.

The girls walked smartly out of the big house and towards the pavilion. We returned to the serious tone of the conversation,

"Have vampires appeared before?"

"Yes, a millennia ago, we had a problem with them which we solved by exterminating them. But apparently, we didn't kill all of them. I do not want to worry you young heroes, any serious problems you will hear of." he began to stand up, "Now hurry to lunch before it's over."

"We already ate for the next few days sir thank you," I replied for us both as we walked back towards our cabins.

I wouldn't say I was all that surprised to find each of the girls on the porch of one of our cabins.

I saw Thalia on my porch and walked up to her, "Hello Thalia and how may I be of assistance to you?" I said as I smiled, I was confused when I suddenly heard her heart beating faster but outwardly she looked exactly the same,

"What were you and Chiron talking about and what happened in the arena when you guys disappeared?" She shot,

I was confused, "What, we didn't disappear we were there the whole time fighting."

"No you weren't, we were outside the arena the whole time and there was no one there but we couldn't get in. It felt like there was this force field blocking us,"

"Well, we were in there they whole time but when we entered Chiron pressed a button and it looked like a huge dome covered the entire place,"

Thalia nodded, "I'll discuss with Annabeth later, now what were you and Chiron discussing when we were spying on you," my smile widened,

"You mean trying to spy on us; we were discussing issues of the highest level of confidentiality which cannot be divulged to you. But in other news, do you want to be on our team for capture the flag this Friday?"

She looked like she was going to deck me, and alas I was right. I caught her fist and lightly twisted her arm around her back. I had to make sure I didn't tear her arm of or put any force into it.

She struggled to get out of my hold, but it felt like a baby kitten just tugging lightly at my arm. I felt like I should at least make it look like I'm struggling, so I walked forward and pinned her against the wall of my cabin.

"Whoa calm down darling, that isn't going to get you anywhere" I laughed.

She stopped squirming and I let go of her and stepped back. She tried again to kick my balls, but I held her foot and raised an eyebrow at her,

"Some would suspect you didn't want me to have children" I said drily,

"Well if they turn out to be as annoying as you I don't think so." She spat back.

I dropped her foot and looked at her as if daring her to attack me again. To my surprise, not, she threw another punch at my head, this time I took her two hands and placed them over her head. Then I made the wall of my cabin extend to braces at her feet to keep them in place, and one at her hands.

Once that had been done I stepped backwards and looked at her. "That will teach you not to be so violent; I'm going to get Percy and Annabeth."

I walked away from her squirming figure trying not to notice how flat her stomach was, and how shapely her body looked stretched out on the wall.

I walked over and saw Annabeth trapped in a water chamber in front of Percy's cabin. I immediately burst into laughter, "I'm guessing she either tried to rape you or to permanently damage your male parts because you wouldn't tell her what Chiron was saying,"

"You would be right about the latter of the two options. The first I wouldn't mind so much," he winked at her and she pounded against the wall.

I laughed again, "You shameless pervert," I said shaking my head, "Come one bring her over to my porch, Thalia's there too."

He levitated the water prison and we walked with it in tow back to my cabin.

I saw Thalia watch with wide eyes as she saw the position her friend was in,

"Now girls, we won't resort to such measures if you stop trying to destroy our male parts. Now do you agree to our terms?" I asked looking at them both,

Thalia frowned but nodded, and Annabeth folded her arms and nodded as well.

"Excellent," I beamed, I released Thalia and she just glared at me.

"Jackass," I heard her murmur under her breath, I chuckled lightly but decided not to comment.

"Why won't you guys tell us what's going on?" Annabeth pressed,

My smile fell, "Because it's not something that concerns you, and it is dangerous if you knew"

Annabeth looked like she was about to blow her top, she shrieked and came right up to me and tried to get into my face. Her attempt was marred by the fact that I was six foot three and a whole head taller than her.

"Listen to me son of hades, answer my question now or so help me I will send you to your father," she spat.

I was starting to get slightly irritated so I my eyes narrowed slightly and my smile completely disappeared from my face. "I am not telling you anything Daughter of Athena so please get out of my face."

Annabeth seemed to step even closer so that if I bent my head I could kiss her. She had her knife at my neck and I felt the pressure on my skin as she pressed it slightly, "Make me,"

I was losing my patience and fast, my fingers twitched towards my sword. And my iris widened a fraction as the black began to spread over my entire cornea.

Percy however, noticed these changes and wrapped his arm around Annabeth to take her away from me.

"For a daughter of Athena, I would say it was pretty daft to do that with someone whose sword could kill you at the slightest touch." Percy said to Annabeth as he placed her down far enough from me.

My eyes returned to their normal colour as I calmed down, I looked at Annabeth who had a petulant look on her face,

"There is a reason you don't know, it's only being done to protect you."

"I can protect myself from anything and anyone." Her tone seething,

"No Annabeth, you really can't," I replied with finality and walked away from them.

I passed under a shadow and I had the urge to be with my father, suddenly I felt a tug in my gut and I fell through the darkness.

There was a whistling sound and I felt hands trying to reach out to me and voices whispering, I was surrounded in complete darkness not standing on anything tangible.

Suddenly I was standing on black floors in a giant dark room. There was a large window beside me and I could see a beautiful garden filled with flowers of all the colours imaginable. It was breath taking in a haphazardly beautiful way.

"I see you discovered the power of shadow travelling," I heard a voice speak,

I turned to see Hades sitting behind a large desk with many papers on it.

"Father," I bowed, "It is good to see you again."

"Yes Nico it is, now come tell me what is bothering you," he rested his back in his armchair and began listening to my account of what just happened.

**Thalia POV**

Percy sighed and shook his head as he watched Nico walk away; he looked back at us,

"He is right you know, this threat is something you two cannot take on by yourselves,"

"And you two can?" I shot back

"Yes we can Thalia. Look, I know you both may not understand and it's a bit farfetched hoping you would just let this rest but unless you beat us up and get it out of us, you aren't getting any information till the time is right."

Hmm, he has given me an idea and I am sure as hell going to follow it. I look at him for a few more seconds before grabbing Annabeth's hand and walking over to my cabin.

"He said he wants us to beat it out of him then beat him out of him we shall." Annabeth smiled a sly smile at my idea,

"This is why we're best friends so, what did you have in mind?"

I explained my plan to her as we sat in my cabin and talked. "What's your opinion of them" Annabeth asked after I explained the plan,

"Strong and they know it, fast, pretty smart though I haven't seen them in action. I've seen a lot more of Nico's fighting than I have of Percy's but they are both very close to perfect."

"The kind of guys you'd date?" I probed, she shook her head,

"Too arrogant, they both behave like they could take us on at the same time and win without breaking a sweat and I hate anyone who tries to "protect me"," she said putting her fingers up to do the theoretical air quote movement.

"But you have to admit, they are kind of hot. When Nico trapped me against the wall today I almost _blushed,_" I told Annabeth,

She rolled her eyes, "Really Thalia? What is up with you; get yourself together!"

I laughed, "Please Annabeth tell me they are not the two hottest guys you've seen in a long time, if not ever."

She shrugged, "They might be but those accents do nothing but improve their situation"

I laughed, "That is so true Beth, that is so true." She punched me in the arm and I chuckled.

* * *

After Dinner, Annabeth and I prepared to execute our plan, I stood guard as Annabeth snuck into the Poseidon cabin while the boys where nowhere to be found. She would go in with her invisibility cap and check if the coast was clear then she'd call me in.

Together we'd wait for Percy then attack him and tie him up. Once that was done we'd interrogate him for answers and possibly torture him till he squealed.

I heard her call me in and I snuck into the cabin quietly; I gasped as I saw how beautiful it was. The walls and the floors were all built using polished Beachwood to give it that beach house feel, there was a large row of windows which faced the beach and had a path leading up to it.

In the middle demarcating this wall was a stand for the state of the art home entertainment system that had a very large comfortable looking chair facing it.

On the opposite side of the room sat a huge bed, it took up almost all the space but there was still space for some cupboards. The cabin was large, spacious and beautiful I couldn't help but feel completely relaxed.

"Thalia wake up, it's nearly time to execute our plan." I heard a faint hissing and buzzing noise from the bathroom and then out emerged Percy using a towel to wipe his head. He looked like he just came out from a swimming pool in his swimming trunks too. I stared momentarily at his body which was still dripping water.

Suddenly he was dry; he still hadn't seen us as his towel still hung over his head. He fingered the band of his trunks and was about to take them off but I shrieked.

His towel came off his head and he threw it at his bed, "Thalia, what are you doing in my cabin?" he asked his voice disturbingly calm like I was crazy or something,

"Uh um nothing?" I replied making it sound like a question

He smirked at me, "So you were doing nothing in my cabin, just waiting for me not caring I was just about to undress?"

I blushed furiously at how this all sounded but I was saved from my embarrassment by Annabeth, still invisible, getting the rope out and tying him up very quickly.

I remembered what I was supposed to be doing and ran forwards to begin tying his feet. He fought a bit but we held him down and sat him on the bed.

He looked at us in defeat, "This wouldn't have anything to do with that I told you earlier would it?"

I smirked widely at his tied up body on his own bed, "Might be,"

He groaned and shook his head, he murmured something under his breath that I didn't quite catch but before I could question him, the bathroom door opens and out walks Nico dripping wet with a towel swung low over his hips.

I looked at him as he stood at the doorway to the bathroom looking utterly confused and completely beautiful. I knew I should definitely not be having such thoughts about someone I met so recently. But I was a girl and I was seventeen, he was a guy and he was hot. I had to acknowledge it, but I would under no circumstances admit it to his face or in an Aphrodite like manner.

"Uh, Thalia why do you have Percy tied up and on his bed half naked?" he asked,

I remembered they still couldn't see Annabeth but I hoped she was doing something about the situation.

"Why did you and Percy come out of the bathroom dripping wet, and are you even wearing anything under that?" I asked raising my eyebrows at the towel at his waist

"No, not really, I decided to go skinny dipping and Percy was taking a shower." He answered.

I almost heard Annabeth step back from him but she managed to tie his arms to him so his hands were still free to hold the towel.

I didn't want to bend down so close to him before I tied his feet so I waited for Annabeth to sit him down before I tied up his feet.

Something seemed to click, "so what you two gay?" I asked

"Not even a little bit, trust me, I'm straight." Nico said as he eyed me.

I had a feeling he was trying to make me uncomfortable and it was working but I ignored it,

"So why did both of you come out of the same bathroom where Nico was supposed to be skinny dipping?"

Both boys glanced at each other and shrugged, "So gay," I murmured under my breath before I continued,

"So are you ready to talk now or do we actually have to make you sing on a higher octave than you can?"

"Again with the threats to my manhood, look if you really desire to see it all you have to do is ask," Nico shrugged,

I walked over to him and punched him in the face. My hand burst into pain as the blow connected.

That had to be definitely the most painful punch of all time. I think I broke a finger but I indiscreetly popped it into place and had a bit of ambrosia.

Percy looked weary and Nico flexed his jaw, "You can really throw a punch there," Percy commented,

"Yes she can, it fucking hurts!" whined Nico

"Well next time answer her question," I heard Annabeth say,

"I don't think so darlings," Percy sang which cause Annabeth to but the head of her knife against his forehead.

She took off her cap in anger, "Don't call me darling you pervert,"

"You are calling me a pervert? At least I didn't sneak up in to your cabin while you were finishing happy time and going to change for bed now did I?"

Annabeth rolled eyes and asked again, "Tell us what we want to know or gods help me I will cut you,"

The two boys exchanged a glance and began to laugh. I was puzzled, "What's so funny?"

"Your flawed plan and the fact that you believed we were gay," Percy chuckled,

"How is our plan flawed? Do you not see that you are still tied up?" I smirked, "Oh and you have to be gay or bisexual, why would you be skinny dipping and showering at the same time that is so wrong,"

Percy shook his head, "You forgot to disarm us for one," as he said that he grabbed his sword from his pockets and slashed through the ropes. Nico's ropes were also undone once I looked at him.

"Two, we'd just tell Chiron what you did and get you in huge trouble" Nico said,

"And three we there was no skinny dipping, we were swimming." Percy beamed.

I stood in shock but Annabeth found her voice and asked, "Where and in which swimming pool?"

Percy looked at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Here and in my pool,"

Annabeth and I raised eyebrows, "What swimming pool?" I questioned,

He smiled and clapped his hands quickly three times; suddenly the wooden floor slid away and was replaced with the glass floor which showed the swimming pool directly under us,

"That swimming pool," he said smugly as Annabeth and I still stood staring at the floor.

"Oh, and another flaw I just realised," I heard Percy say

Before I could look behind him, I felt the ropes around my shoulders and my knife being taken away from me, "Don't look away from the enemy at any point," Nico whispered in my ear as he finished tying the knots on the ropes around my hands and arms before proceeding to my feet.

I involuntarily shivered as his breath touched my ear but there was a deep scowl on my face, "Fuck both of you,"

Percy just laughed as he wore his shirt and then hoisted Annabeth over his shoulders.

Nico had let the towel drop and showed a pair of black shorts, he then put on his shirt and grabbed me by my waist and threw me over his shoulder.

I tried squirming around to kick his face, but he held my legs tight. "Doing that isn't going to get you anywhere Thalia,"

"Doesn't stop me from trying," I grumbled.

"Where would you like to go madam?" He asked me

"Just take me to my cabin,"

"My wish is your command," he laughed,

"Well then I wish you would tell me what I want to know then disappear,"

He completely ignored my request, "we have now reached our destination, and I hope you enjoyed flying on Nico Airways,"

I was just about to make some smart comment when Nico stiffened; suddenly the conch horn was being sounded.

Nico turned around waved his hand and then shot off towards the big house, it took me a second to realise that camp was being attacked. I was fuming about still being tied up when I noticed the skeleton warrior cutting the ropes at my feet.

My hands had already been released and beside me lay my sword.

I immediately ran forward seeing Annabeth a couple of metres ahead of me I called out her name and she looked back.

When we got there we surveyed the damage, two Empousai rode through camp on hellhounds with about a hundred telkhines in tow.

The archers were doing their work, but in front Percy and Nico were shredding through the monsters and racing straight for the Empousai.

I raced into battle taking down telkhines left right and centre trying to get to the hellhounds and the Empousai who were known to try and seduce men.

I saw Percy bring out a two metre long trident and throw it straight at the hellhound and the Empousai. The she-devil hopped off the hell hound but the poor animal wasn't as lucky it burst into flames and the trident just kept flying, taking out another bunch of telkhines.

Percy immediately attacked the empousa, he didn't break a sweat. He landed a good kick that sent her flying and he looked around for Nico,

I had to dodge a telkhine as I smashed its face in with Aegis, and then stabbed another so I missed where Percy went.

I noticed Annabeth in the middle of around ten telkhines and she was already injured,

She was fighting hard but suddenly they started to all burst into dust.

I noticed they were being shot with arrows being shot at an incredible rate. I tried to find the source, but to no avail.

In a few seconds, there were none left and Annabeth stood there in awe.

I was so distracted I didn't notice the sword coming at my face till it was intercepted by a pitch black blade, I looked at my saviours eyes for a fraction of a second and what I saw stunned me. Nico's eyes shocked me, but he looked at me and smiled.

Another creature ran up to us and he immediately moved and stabbed the creature. He looked around and frowned, and then he sunk his blade into the ground and said something to the ground.

Suddenly a row of skeleton monsters rose and began attacking the monsters. I saw Nico smile and return to battle.

I continued fighting and I saw Nico and Percy fighting back to back. They were so in sync it was scary but then something else happened, there was a mighty shriek and another empousa landed right in the middle of the battle and she shouted,

"Heed the warning, War is upon you. The enemy is angry, they want revenge and soon they will strike." Then she turned to Percy and Nico, "We have something you want, join us and you shall get it," then she disappeared.

There were no more telkhines but Percy and Nico stood stock still in the middle, then someone shrieked as Rachel a prophecy that struck fear in my heart and chilled me to my bones.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks for the reviews! To answer some questions yes there will be pairings and the vampire descriptions are similar to that in twilight**

**Pardon me for the crappy prophecy and any errors i make. going through a lot and this is just an escape.**

**Anyway, Enjoy!**

Percy POV

_Four shall go west to free a soul that has been blessed._

_They embark on this journey and face the living dead,_

_The daughters of owl and lightning fail without princes_

_Death shall arise to grant an ancient's wish,_

_But only the powers from within can withstand and win,_

_The lovers fight fuels the release of fury,_

_A deep rooted rivalry and a broken oath resurface,_

_The pain of betrayal in the end prevails and leads astray._

Once I heard the prophecy, I was pretty sure what living dead meant but I sure as hell didn't have a clue what the rest of it meant. Chiron galloped up to the centre and broke everyone out of their trance,

"Heroes, get the injured to the infirmary and report any and all deaths so we can organise a funeral. Cabin leaders and counsellors to the big house we need to discuss this battle and the new prophecy."

Once that had been said the camp was buzzing again, people were running about getting their injured siblings and friends to the infirmary for healing.

Nico and I glanced at each other; something about the Prophecy did not make me anxious to discuss it but we walked towards the big house anyway.

We entered the room designated for meetings and sat around a large conference table. Clarisse of the Ares cabin, Annabeth of the Athena cabin, Thalia of the Zeus cabin, Will Solace of the Apollo Cabin, Beckendorf and Silena of the Hephaestus and Aphrodite cabins, Pollux of the Dionysus cabin, Katie of the Demeter Cabin and Nico and I of the Poseidon and Hades cabins.

"Where is the Hermes cabin head councillor?" I asked,

"The Stoll brothers are on their way, they should be here in about five minutes. I IM'd them and sent some Pegasi for them to ride." Silena said,

"Wait, the Stoll brothers as in, Travis and Connor Stoll?" Nico questioned with raised eyebrows,

"Yeah those idiots," Clarisse answered, "I still owe them a good pounding for the prank they pulled on my cabin at the end of last summer."

"Yep, Definitely the Stolls," I said as I laughed,

"Did someone call our awesome names?" I heard Travis say as he and Connor walked into the meeting room,

"Yes, we did" I answered which caused them to look over at us and open their eyes in surprise,

"Well would you look at that? It's Nico and Percy, half bloods and head councillors but of which cabins?" Connor asked,

"I'm guessing Poseidon for you Percy, but Nico I have no clue something out there Hades maybe?" Travis guessed,

I raised an eyebrow, "How on earth did you two lunatics figure that out?"

"Meh, they are the only two non-virgin gods who are not already represented and Percy your obsession with water was not healthy" Connor shrugged,

If I could blush, I would have but alas I just sat and glared at him.

"Heroes we shall now call this meeting to order," Chiron galloped in immediately the whole room went silent.

"We have the matter of a new quest and this attack on camp. We shall tackle the attack on camp first." Chiron looked around the table then his eyes landed on me and Nico

"There is a traitor in the camp who gave the monsters the permission to enter the camp. Do any of you have an idea who it might be?"

There was a general bout of silence around the table I heard the steady heartbeats of everyone and I was relieved to find out that no one here was the traitor.

Chiron glanced at us, I understood he didn't completely trust us, but he didn't believe we would do that did he?

"Who took out the Empousai when we were fighting?" Clarisse asked, "I wanted to murder those she-demons for training and one second they're there the next second one's flying towards a tree, I turn around for a second and the next thing they're gone."

"Oh, um, I took out one probably the one you saw flying towards the tree" I said looking slightly sheepish,

"And I," Nico cleared his throat before continuing, "Took out the other,"

"And the hell hounds?" the girl I knew as Katie asked,

"Guilty again for one,"

"I had the other one," Nico squirmed in his seat,

Then Annabeth spoke up, "I was surrounded by like ten telekhines and suddenly arrows start flying towards me taking them out so quickly it was unreal,"

That was me but I really didn't want anyone to know so I just kept quiet. Chiron however looked at me with this expression and I knew he knew. I nodded ever so slightly and returned my eyes to the conversation,

"So, you boys took down a hellhound and an empousa each and I saw you bang in the middle of that war and you managed not to get even a scratch on you?" Katie asked,

I had already noticed all the blood from the scratches around me and it made me slightly uncomfortable but I had made sure I didn't dwell on the scent. What I didn't acknowledge was the fact that we were sitting there in out shirts, shorts and slippers without so much as a scratch.

The armour protected us very well in Battle Mode two, but our skin couldn't be penetrated. I was about to explain but Nico spun the lie quickly.

"We have special full body armour that's really flexible so as long as we're extra careful, we won't get injured."

"Hmm, I just thought it was weird because almost exactly a week after you come, we get attacked and both of you are left almost untouched at the end of it; I mean no offence but it seems a bit opportunistic doesn't it?" Katie wondered,

"Yeah, and you guys managed to beat the two best fighters at camp at capture the flag even though you said you hadn't gotten any training before coming here, "Pollux added.

"You could have been the ones who invited the army into camp, probably just spies sent by the enemy to infiltrate camp," Clarisse challenged.

I was absolutely stunned, I mean really you help them defeat a bunch of monsters and do it without getting yourself mauled and suddenly you're the bad guy?

I felt myself getting angry and if it remained that way it wouldn't be good.

"While your assumptions may in some land be completely justified, you are forgetting a few things," Beckendorf countered,

"One, they told me when they came they had some experience fencing back home,"

"This is true; they were the best even better than two trained Demi gods," Travis added,

"All they needed was a little more training on the more crude ways of Greek fighting which I taught them in the few days before capture the flag." Beckendorf finished,

"Not to mention that when they beat us, it wasn't in hand to hand combat. Though Nico did beat me it was mostly because of his powers as a Son of hades." Thalia contributed,

"Lastly, they couldn't have been the ones who let the monsters into camp because they were tied up in the Poseidon cabin by us and didn't leave our sight till the conch horn signalling an attack was blown." Annabeth finished,

Ignoring the urge to point out the innuendos in that sentence, I looked at Annabeth and the others and nodded thanks at them.

"Now onto the business of the Prophecy, it is obvious that those of the prophecy are Thalia, Nico and Percy. It is up to you three to choose a child of Athena to accompany you." He looked at us, and then at Thalia.

We all looked at each other and I spoke, "We choose Annabeth."

Chiron nodded, "Very well now the first line says, '_Four shall go west to free a soul who has been blessed_,' so we're looking for someone who has been blessed by the gods I guess,"

"The last empousa told Percy and Nico that she has something they want, what was she talking about?" Asked Annabeth

I thought for a second, "I have no idea, there isn't much I could need that I don't have," _Unless they have your mother _a voice whispered in my head.

I decided against saying that out loud as we continued trying to analyse and decipher the poem, "'_They embark on the journey to face the living dead'" _Thalia recited, "What does that mean?"

Chiron was looking at me now his look clearly telling me not to say anything, "We are not sure of this but continue," he commanded,

"The next two lines are obvious, Princes, owl and lightning are Percy, Nico, Thalia and a daughter of Athena, in this case Annabeth, need to work together to succeed." Clarisse clarified,

"The next two lines don't look like anything we can figure out before they come to pass, but the last two lines make one thing clear; there will be rivalries and betrayal" Silena said,

"Could the rivalry and the broken oath be between and by the big three, I mean all their children are represented in this quest so why not?" Connor suggested,

Chiron nodded, "This seems likely but the big question here is who betrays who?"

Everyone remained quiet Chiron sighed, "Well, the meeting has now been adjourned. Can the people on the quest wait behind to discuss the other issues about your quest?"

Everyone except Nico, Annabeth, Thalia and I rose from their seats at the table and left the room, I looked around at my team mates; I couldn't ask for a better team.

"So children how do you suggest we get you to the west coast?" Chiron asked,

"Not by air, my gut tells me Zeus won't be too happy to see me and Nico in his domain again. We could go by sea?"

"No," Annabeth countered, "That would take too long we want to finish this quest as soon as possible,"

"So I guess that leaves land but I don't have a car and neither does Annabeth" Thalia commented.

"Percy and I have motorcycles unless that isn't good enough, we could go by car?"

"Yeah I think car is the best option, but where would we get one?" Annabeth asked.

I looked at her like it was possibly the most obvious thing in the world, "Erm we buy one? I don't know where do you usually get cars?"

Annabeth and Thalia exchanged a look, "Just out of curiosity where exactly would we get the money for a new car from?"

Ah, so this was their problem they thought we didn't have the money for it, oh well that wasn't a problem, "Leave that to us so tomorrow we leave via motorcycle to go get a new car and then continue with our quest from there?"

"That sounds good," Chiron accepted, "So now where on the west coast are you going?"

"I was thinking of Hollywood, Los Angeles because the prophecy says Death so the location of the underworld seems sensible right?" Annabeth reasoned,

I nodded, "That sounds pretty good, I think it's so cool that the door to the underworld is in Hollywood." Everyone shook their heads at my "maturity"

"Now children, go and get your supplies and get some rest. Something tells me this quest is going to be a challenging one. Boys a minute please."

We waited for Annabeth and Thalia to leave and after making sure they weren't spying we turned to Chiron his face down,

"The situations are connected aren't they? The living dead they were talking about in the prophecy are Vampires?" I mumbled,

"I'm afraid so it's up to you guys now to ensure the girls are safe. If any vampires are in the vicinity lead them far away from the girls," Chiron warned,

"Of course, we would never do anything to hurt them on purpose." I spoke firmly and sounded more confidently than I felt.

"Good my boys now get some sleep; you have to be up very early tomorrow."

We nodded and walked out of the room towards our cabins, "Nico, I have a feeling this quest has to do with my mum,"

"I hope it does," he said and remained silent as we slipped into our cabins for the night.

That night I had the first dream since I got to camp and it was not pretty,

I was standing in the middle of a green field and I spotted my mother she stood talking to a man who was tall with sandy blonde hair. He held a cell phone and from where I was I could see two strings twirling around the device. She gave him something and thanked him before slipping back to the ground.

I walked over to her and she saw me. Her eyes widened in shock as she took in the sight of me, "Percy my boy what are you doing here? Don't tell me they got you too?" she sobbed,

"No mum no one got me where are you? We need to rescue you!"

"I don't know where I am, I only remember being captured while I was working in San Francisco. I saw a couple of monsters around so I tried to get away, but they got me."

"I was confused, "But mum they told me you died on the plane and I thought normal humans couldn't see the monsters through the mist?"

She shook her head furiously, "No Percy they faked my death when they captured me and normal humans can't see through the mist, I was-" she was suddenly cut off and I was shown another image.

It was my father talking to a woman in what looked like an underwater palace,

"You promised me Poseidon! You swore that you would not have any more affairs with mortal women, you told me you would stop lying" The woman screamed,

Poseidon looked like he was in anguish, "Amphitrite my dear, I'm so sorry. I mean to honestly I made a stupid mistake again. Please forgive me"

"No Poseidon, I'm done forgiving, this was the last straw and you will pay for this. You will pay Poseidon, just wait and see," she said angrily as she stormed out,

Before the dream faded, I saw Poseidon looking torn and dejected, "Oh Sally, my dear Sally what have I done?"

I woke with a start and realised it was morning, and the first day of my quest. I packed a back pack full of clothes, my bank card, my wallet with my ID cards and I made sure riptide was in my pocket before I went to the pavilion for breakfast.

I took food and sacrificed it to the gods then I ordered my blood and drank up.

Once I was fully sated I walked over to the Zeus table and sat down opposite Thalia, "So what else do we need for the quest?"

She looked up and raised an eyebrow, "We need ambrosia, nectar, mortal money and golden drachma but Annabeth and I already got that covered."

"Oh, okay" I shrugged, "Thanks for taking care of that. So do you want to meat at the top of the hill at around eight thirty?"

She looked at her watch, "Yeah that sounds good."

"Cool I'll see you there," I answered as I walked away from her to the Hades table,

I plopped down in front of Nico, who was unconsciously carving the table with his finger, "Uh Nico, you might want to stop defacing the table with you fingernail before someone, I don't know, _sees_ you!"

"Uh, what?" he looked down, "Oh sorry I was pretty pre occupied. I had a really weird dream yesterday and it made me realise something."

I looked at him and raised an eyebrow urging him to continue, "I don't remember anything about my life before I was twelve," I nodded and frowned. It was true; I hadn't known Nico till I met him in school when we were both twelve and it never struck me to ask him where he came from. He could speak Italian so I had always assumed it was from Italy and lost his parents in a car accident when he was in England.

"Well I had this dream yeah, and in it I was a little kid playing with an older girl. Then this woman, I swear she was my mother because Hades was in the background, called us over to get on the boat."

I nodded, "So what's weird about the dream,"

"What's weird is that the dream seems like it was coming out of some nineteen thirties movie, I mean the ship was going to America. Who goes to America by boat? And the clothes, if not for the colour and the fact that the kid was most definitely me, I would have thought I was watching some nineteen thirties movie."

"I had a weird dream was well. In fact that reminds me, I need to talk to Annabeth about something meet at the top of the hill in twenty five minutes and be ready."

I ran to the entrance to the pavilion and stood still, she was at the Athena cabin talking to a guy with blonde hair. He seemed to be saying something with intensity as she looked into his eyes and she looked furious but was trying to hide it.

He leaned into her and then whispered something then I saw her eyes soften as the guy kissed her on her head and hugged her tightly.

He turned around and walked away leaving her standing there. I took this as my cue to walk towards her and only when I was a few meters away from her that I noticed there was a tear drop running down her face. I moved faster and walked towards her,

"Hey are you alright?" I enquired,

She seemed startled and I realised she probably hadn't even noticed me, with my silent hunting footsteps, coming towards her.

She hastily cleaned the tear drop from her eye and I decided maybe I shouldn't comment on that.

"You didn't answer me, are you alright Annabeth?"

She snapped at me, "Yes, I'm fine just leave me alone."

I raised my hand in defeat; maybe I shouldn't ask her anything now. Later when she's in a good mood I'll try my luck.

So instead I just eyed her warily, "We're living in about fifteen minutes and everyone is meeting at the top of the hill."

She just eyed me then nodded and walked away.

"Well someone's in bad mood, what did you do to her Jackson?" I turned round to see the Stoll brothers walking towards me and I cracked a grin,

"Fuck off, I didn't do anything. I think she just hates me and is naturally in a bad mood when I'm around."

"I can imagine why, you guys beat her at capture the flag. She hasn't been bested in the last five, maybe six years and you two newbies come and do it in under record time." Connor laughed, "I give you guy a huge kudos for that by the way."

I shrugged, "meh, I'm blessed I guess." I suddenly got a bright idea, "you two know a lot of gossip right?" I asked them. They gave one of their mischievous smiles and nodded, "Okay, what's the dish on Annabeth's love life."

"She's been here eleven years. When she was eleven and in fifth grade, she rescued a demi- god by the name of Luke Castellan Son of Hermes who was thirteen and had not been to camp yet. It is really rare that demi gods live longer than that without training so he was lucky."

Travis took up the tale from there, "The two became close along with Thalia and things were going great. Of course the Stoll Brothers had arrived a summer before were teaching him the ropes regardless of the fact that he's a year older than us. The summer he turned sixteen was when things got weird, he went and came back with a huge scar, told us it was from monster attack. The next summer he and Annabeth got together but it didn't last long before he cheated on her with Thalia."

"Now THAT was an awkward summer, but Thalia and Annabeth solved their problem and Thalia claimed she never really liked him that she was drunk out of her mind. Luke and Annabeth lived on in their weird off-on relationship which is where they are in now."

"Wow, that is really intense," I looked at my watch, "Shit guys I have to go now; I'll see you guys if I come back from this quest alive."

I think at that point I saw the Stoll Brothers look serious for the first time ever, "Quest's are nothing to joke about Percy, and neither is death. You and Di Angelo better come back alive."

I nodded solemnly and jogged of towards the top of the hill.

I got to the top of the hill and saw only Nico there he looked at me, "Come on let's go get our motor cycles from the shed."

Once they were settled ready to go, we waited as we saw the girls walking up the hill. They were both really beautiful maybe that's what came with being the daughter of a god or goddess.

I noticed that Annabeth still looked slightly upset and her face had tear tracts that were dried. Chiron galloped up behind them. We all stood at the top now and looked at him, "Good luck children remember be safe and trust each other. Be wise and keep me informed when possible."

We all nodded and then I looked at the girls, "Who's riding with who?"

"I'll go with Nico," Thalia said and walked over to him,

Annabeth looked me straight in the eyes and shrugged then she came and sat on the leather seat behind me. I handed her the helmet and she strapped it on quickly,

"Ready?" I asked looking at Nico and Thalia, they both nodded and Annabeth wrapped her arms around my waist and whispered, "Yes."

I revved my engine and rode out of Camp Half Blood, ready to embark on the journey of a lifetime.


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks for the reviews, sorry about the long wait.**

**This chapter is a bit more mature but nothing more than T in there i believe.**

**Enjoy and leave comments or suggestions.**

**Annabeth**

Love stinks and it hurts, a lot. I didn't understand what was going on with Luke, I had loved him for so long and some years ago, he just changed. He broke my heart once that summer but I wrote it off because once demi gods get drunk they have no control whatsoever. I knew as well that Thalia regretted that night with every fibre in her body and I regret my night with him two years later.

This isn't what love is supposed to be; I shouldn't regret have regret being with him as much as I do now. He is turning into something I don't recognize and he doesn't care about me half as much as he used to. Now as I was going on this quest he didn't even look like he gave a shit.

My thoughts kept me occupied till we hit the highway and the speed at which Percy was going nearly peeled the skin off my face through my helmet.

Why the hell was he going so fast, didn't he have any sense or did he want us to simply die from his reckless driving? I didn't even think Harleys went that fast.

I had my hand wrapped around his waist and he was so tall that I could barely see over his shoulder. My hold on him tightened reflexively as he swerved passed a car. I felt his body shake lightly and I wanted to smack him in the head, he had the nerve to laugh at me for being scared of his reckless driving.

By the time we were in town, my eyes had been closed for about half of the ride. When we hit traffic, Percy did not bother to slow down instead he continued swerving in and out of spaces not even designed for fingernails to pass through. That scared the hell out of me and to say I was surprised to still be alive, would be an understatement.

"You are the worst driver in the world!" I fumed, "What were you trying to do, turn us into demi god shish Kebabs?!" I exploded right into his face.

Nico snorted and Percy just rolled his eyes, "There is no need to be so dramatic Annabeth, there isn't a scratch on you or the motorbike so calm down,"

I looked at Thalia to see what she thought of all this but her eyes were wide, "Thalia, are you alright?"

"We were going so fast, the poor woman we nearly hit" her voice sounded distant and tortured.

"Now look at what you did, you broke Thalia!" I fumed.

Percy and Nico just broke out in fits of laughter completely ignoring my anger and Thalia's fragile mental state.

"Stupid boys, I'll make sure I castrate them in their sleep," I muttered under my breath so no one would hear but once I did both boys stopped laughing and glanced at each other. I turned to look at Thalia and thought of a way to wake her up.

I snapped my fingers triumphantly when an idea suddenly flew into my head, "Hey guys, Thalia's eighteenth birthday is in June and I was thinking that we go to her favourite place in the world called U-," before I could even finish the sentence she snapped out of it and placed her hand over my mouth to cover it.

I chuckled to myself and licked Thalia's hand so she would remove it, "Ew Annabeth you didn't have to lick my hand besides, you were the one who was about to tell them my biggest secret in the entire world!" she raised her hands up dramatically to emphasize her point.

"I wasn't going to tell them, I just wanted you to get out of your trance," the smug smile on my face was very prominent for her to see and her eyes narrowed menacingly,

"Um Ladies, Sorry to break up your little pow-wow but we need to go in and pick a car," Percy said,

I glared at him before glancing up at the name of the place we were. I looked back at him, then back up at the sign and then finally back at him. "You are joking right, Logan J car dealerships? They don't sell anything but sports cars and high security cars, not to mention they cost a fortune!"

"Relax Annabeth, I got this let's go in," and with that he walked into the building not even looking at his very expensive looking motorcycle in the street.

I walked in behind him and I saw the door man's eyes go wide before he ran over to Percy and started talking to him enthusiastically. The man then spoke into his ear piece and I saw two other men appear out of nowhere and walk out of the door past me towards the two motorcycles.

They hopped on and drove them away leaving me staring at the spot where they motorcycles were in looking very confused.

I looked at the spot Thalia was in ten seconds ago and then I turned my gaze to Percy who was standing there alone looking at me.

"Where did Nico and Thalia go? What is going on? Where did those men take your motorcycles?" I rattled off questions not even waiting for an answer.

"I'll explain as we go along. Nico and Thalia are fine and the building is secured so we'll be perfectly safe," His voice sounded soft and soothing.

I suddenly felt like he was lying but I didn't see any problem so I followed him as he led us down the hallway to a lift which said staff only. He thanked the man who followed us there and he was rewarded with a salute and a "Have a nice day sir."

I raised an eyebrow, "Sir? When did you become a sir in this company?"

"When I became the major shareholder of this company,"

I looked over at him to see any signs or traces of a lie and I found none then I guess my eyes bulged and my mouth was hanging over because he looked at me and had on a very amused smile,

"Close your mouth Annabeth, didn't mummy or daddy ever tell you it's rude to gawk?" his accent sounded so terribly British that I couldn't help but snicker and mimic him in my head.

"Back to the important questions how did you become a shareholder and where on earth are we going?" I asked as the elevator began its long journey upwards.

He looked over at me then he looked back at the elevator wall and sighed, "It's a long story," he said his voice solemn, "I'll tell you eventually but for now there's something we need to do."

I nodded and kept silent. The silence was not awkward neither was it comfortable but we were about to reach our floor so I didn't see the point in saying anything. I looked around the lift and I noticed something in the corner. I tried to ignore it but then it began to crawl towards me. I couldn't hold it anymore I screamed and grabbed Percy, nearly tripping over my own feet in my haste.

He seemed startled but he caught me by my waist before I could fall to the floor. Then I grabbed him and used him to shield me from it pressing my back against the wall of the lift in the process, "S-sp-spider!" I managed to yell,

I didn't noticed that I had him practically pressed up against me till he cleared his throat and looked down at me, which allowed me to notice how close we were, "You know Annabeth if you keep me like this, there won't be much I can do about that spider crawling towards us,"

I barely registered anything else he said before "crawling towards us," which cause me to bury my head in his chest and squeal, "Kill it!"

I felt him sigh and then take out riptide. He held the sword by its blade then used the hilt to squash the bug. I wondered how on earth he didn't slice his hand and how it was so steady as he held it out but that all cleared from my head when he looked back down at me and smiled, "I squashed the nasty little critter, are you okay now Annabeth?"

All the things that my arachnophobia blocked came crashing down on me now, like how close we were with my hand gripping his shoulders and his other hand wrapped around my waist. And how there was literally no space between our bodies and the wall, not to mention that if I raised my head and tilted it to the side I could kiss him. His breath smelt so nice and inviting, scratch that, he smelled amazing. I suddenly realised I hadn't answered him when he whispered in my ear, "Annabeth can you hear me?"

His hot breath on my ear caused involuntary shivers but it also broke me from my, uh, day dreams and I abruptly released him and I was sure my face was as red as a tomato and I suddenly felt very flustered, "Oh um I'm f-fine T-thanks," Now I was stammering, what the hell was going on? I cleared my throat, "Thanks for helping me with that, I have serious arachnophobia."

He smiled and nodded but before he could say anything the elevator stopped. That took almost five minutes and was probably the longest elevator ride ever. He motioned that I should get off first and I walked off the lift closely followed by him.

There was only one door we could go into so I opened it and walked into a large open office. Most of the windows were glass so I could see most of the New York sky line.

"Come on Annabeth, this way." He led me into a room where I finally spotted Thalia and Nico talking to a middle aged man with brown hair.

"Perseus my dear old chap, how are you? Is this your girlfriend? I'm so happy that I get to meet at least one of them." The man said with a wide smile on his face.

Before I could correct him Percy walked over to him and chuckled, "Uncle K, I told you I'm only eighteen, I'm not ready to get married yet. Annabeth here is only a friend she even has her own boyfriend."

I blushed furiously, how did he know about Luke? I glanced over at Thalia my eyes questioning her. She shook her head and shrugged.

"Well I know that, I was just having a laugh. So boys what brings you here today, are you ready to finally cash into your benefits as major shareholder Percy?"

Percy smiled a charming smile, "How did you know? We need a car; high security nice drive and good on all terrains, comfortable as well would be useful in case we need to sleep inside it.

The man scratched his head for a second then snapped his fingers, "I have just what you need; It's a modified 2012 GMC terrain, bullet proof glass and explosion proof body. It's great on rugged terrain and is the most comfortable car out there. It seats eight people but the last two rows of chairs can be transformed into cargo space. There's in car entertainment complete with a DVD player, a Wii and a PS3."

As he was saying all this he walked towards the back of the room and accessed a hidden corridor, "The car even has power sockets! It is fuel efficient, fast and an easy drive." Its actual cost is around one point five to 2 so some of it has to come out of your yearly returns.

Percy didn't even flinch, "That's okay, but we need her now because we have to be on our way."

The man smiled, "That's absolutely fine she'll be outside the building waiting for you and anything else you need, just call your favourite uncle okay?"

"I will, and thank you again I'll see you soon," Percy smiled and hugged him. The man turned his attention to Nico,

"Nicholas, Prenditi cura di voi stessi e le Ladies quello che è venuto con sguardi come un buon partito, non lasciarla andare. Rappelez-vous, l'amour est ce qui maintient plus longtemps que vous heureux de l'argent fait. L'amour est immortel," the man looked back to Percy and gave him a knowing look, "Same goes for you Percy."

Nico smiled a bit then nodded and hugged the man, "I won't forget and I'll try"

"Excellent, now good luck boys. Tell me how your road trip goes when you get back!"

I loved that he was so sure that they would go back. I didn't want to be the one to tell him there is a possibility they won't make it back.

* * *

The ride through town was a bit saner than the last one Percy was driving at a more acceptable pace than he had been this morning.

The man had been right; this car was the most comfortable thing ever. Percy had been driving for nearly eight hours and we had already made good time.

"Hey Percy I think we should stop as soon as we see a hotel, I'm pretty hungry and tired and it's getting dark," I said to him as he drove through the town.

"I second that, I am starving. How are you two boys not desperate to eat, I mean you are guys. Unless of course you really are gay and you are watching your figures." Thalia snickered.

Nico looked back at her and smiled a sparkly pearly white teeth smile, "Trust me Thalia, I am not gay. Come to my room this night and I'll prove it to you," he winked and Thalia blushed deeply.

I just burst out laughing and Thalia stuck her tongue out at me.

Percy was twiddling around with his GPS system but after a few minutes he seemed to find what he was looking for and let it rest.

About fifteen minutes later we pulled into a Hotel. I saw the sign and nearly decked Percy, why must he always be so extravagant?

"The Marriott Hotel Grand Vista, Nice one Percy I haven't been to one of these in ages!" Nico enthused.

"Do you guys really have that much money to throw around?" I asked bitterly, they were such spoiled brats.

"Would you rather we drove another four or five hours for a shady motel in Illinois because it's entirely your choice," he answered drily.

I kept quiet and folded my arms over my chest and Thalia just silently shook her head at my behaviour,

"I thought as much, I just hope they even have rooms for us." He said as he parked the car.

I got out of the car after Thalia and slammed the door shut, sulking silently as we walked into the reception area.

The middle aged woman at the counter took one look at Nico and Percy and her eyes went wide.

"Hello there, we would like two rooms please for the night." Percy said with a smile as he leaned into the counter.

The woman sat in momentary shock before flustering around trying to remember the protocol for new customers.

She typed furiously on her computer and scanned the screen before she looked up, "I'm sorry dear but the hotels nearly fully booked. There's some conference over in Illinois so the only thing we have left is the presidential suite or the penthouse suite,"

"How many rooms are in each of them?" Percy asked,

"The presidential suite has two rooms and the penthouse suite has three rooms," the lady replied,

Percy nodded, "Okay, we'll take the presidential suite for the night please.

The woman seemed surprised "Are you sure you have enough money for that?"

"Yes I'm sure, I wouldn't still be here if I wasn't would I?" he grinned at her and the woman blushed. This was so strange, even a forty year old woman was wrapped around his tiny finger.

"O-okay, would you like four key cards with that?" she stuttered. Percy nodded and grinned again.

In a few minutes she was handing our key cards to him along with his bill which Percy just looked at and paid with his card. As we walked towards the elevator with our bags I turned to him,

"How much was it?"

"Now why, in the name of the gods, would I tell you that?" he answered with his eyebrows raised incredulously, "So I can pay you back." I responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Don't worry about all that. There is no payback necessary; it was done for the greater good of this quest."

"We don't need your charity if that's what you're implying." Thalia interrupted.

"Now who on earth said anything about charity? You Americans are so melodramatic; whether or not we were on this quest, I would have stayed in the presidential suite so please drop it"

Nico chuckled and shook his head. There was an awkward silence till we got to the room and Percy spoke again, "Check out is at eleven we have breakfast then we leave. Ladies please decide on the rooming arrangements so we can sort ourselves out."

I glared at him and he just stared back at me before I could make a sarcastic comment Thalia came back and grabbed my arm, "We'll take that room and we're rooming together, Thanks Percy."

I glared at her till we got into our large room and shut the door. The room was large and spacious and there was a queen sized bed in the middle along with a door for a bathroom.

"What on earth has gotten into you Annabeth?" Thalia asked

"He's just a spoilt rich boy who doesn't know how to ruff it," I responded my voice filled with venom.

"You don't know that! Why would he ruff it if he had the resources to ensure we got there safely and in one piece?"

"How do you know it's safe though? How do we know he isn't the one who is going to betray us in the end?" Thalia looked at me as if I was crazy and shook her head, "Are you lashing out because you are upset about something, or do you truly despise the boy?"

Crap, she knew me too well. I really did dislike the way Percy behaved but I knew he wasn't really that bad. I was still really upset about what happened with Luke earlier on.

My hesitation proved that she was right, "Oh Annabeth, what happened now?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around me,

"Some Aphrodite daughter told me that she and Luke got together and when I confronted him about it, he just smirked at me and said I should have fun on my doomed quest. He didn't even acknowledge the fact that he really hurt my feelings."

Thalia shook her head, "You should end this. He isn't good for you and you know it."

"I already did, but he didn't even flinch. He smiled like a jackass and practically ran off dancing in glee." My voice broke then and a stray tear rolled down my face.

"No Annabeth, you will not cry. We need to cheer you up, how about I raid the bar and see what I can find?" I nodded my head slowly not really caring about the stupidity of what I was about to do. All I wanted was for the pain to go away.

Thalia came back into the room with a large bottle of Grey Goose, a large coke bottle and two shot glasses. "Well my darling Annabeth, get ready to let go of your inhibitions, because we are going to party!" she did a weird shimmy dance as she declared this and it made me crack a smile.

Thalia walked over to the television and stereo system and found an iPod dock. She pumped her fist in the air in excitement and plugged in her iPod. Suddenly "Brick by broken Brick" by Paramore was blaring from the speakers.

Thalia and I looked at each other then started singing and dancing. We stopped halfway to open the Vodka and really get the party started.

**PERCY**

I saw her enter with the vodka and as soon as I heard the music I knew this wasn't going to end well. Nico sat on the chair beside me and as soon as the music started I got up, "Right I'm going for a swim. Are you going to stay here and make sure they don't wreck the place?"

"Like I have a choice? Just make sure you listen for me if I call you," he didn't take his eyes off what he was watching and I nodded at him. Half a minute later I was out the door and walking to the lift.

Through the entire walk to the pool I thought about today. Everything had gone according to plan but there were a few events which were replaying in my head. One was the lift ride with Annabeth. She was very attractive no doubt about it and I had very good self-control but that little incident in the lift nearly, very nearly, made me tempted.

Her body pressed against mine actually made me think about kissing her, but all attraction had been wiped clear by the end of the night after her bitchy behaviour. But it didn't stop the events of the lift to replay over and over in my head as I was gliding through the pool.

Another thing that was bothering me was my dream, what did my mother mean about seeing through the mist? And what happened between my father and his wife? These questions kept bothering me as I swam through the pool.

I didn't realise how long I had been there till some guy came and told me they wanted to close the pool. I got out and looked at the time and I was absolutely stunned to find I had been gone for four hours. It was now nearly eleven and I ran up to my room as quickly as I could without drawing suspicion.

When I opened the door, the scene before me was truly shocking. Nico was nowhere to be found and on the floor in nothing but their underwear, playing spin the bottle with an empty coke bottle, were Thalia and Annabeth. They were giggling furiously and they seemed to notice me standing there because Thalia's next dare was, "I dare you to give Percy a big kiss!" then she giggled.

Annabeth walked, no stumbled over to where I was and tried to wrap her arms around me. She very nearly succeeded because I was so distracted by the entire scenario, but I moved out of her grasp at the last second.

"Uh Annabeth I don't think that's a very good idea." She didn't seem to like that because she pouted and tried again. I moved out of her grasp, again.

Thalia then began to shout, "Annabeth! You failed your dare you know what that means!"

Annabeth stumbled back to where Thalia was and I saw her reach behind her back. I didn't bother to find out what she was going to do before I disappeared to my room.

I found no one there but I could smell Nico's scent leading a trail to the other room. I walked in and found him eating popcorn on the bed while watching a movie. On the floor there was a quarter of the bottle of Vodka left and two shot glasses.

"Nico, what in the world is going on there?" I asked,

He looked at me, "Well, Thalia and Annabeth decided to get drunk and get deliriously drunk they did."

"So why the fuck are you hiding out here?"

"Because apparently when they get drunk they get randy too, they've been trying to use me for all sorts of nasty dares. Usually I'd be happy to do that for two hot drunks but they're too respectable for me to take advantage of; in effect, I told them I was going out then ran back here. They don't suspect a thing."

I shrugged, "Oh well, might as well wait It out in here," I shoved him over and plopped down beside him, "What are you watching?"

"Revenge, now don't disturb or I'll put you in an uncomfortable position when they wake up tomorrow."

"Yes Sir." I answered as I munched on the popcorn beside him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry about the long wait, was on holiday without any internet :(**

**Anyway, here's the next part. Review! **

**THALIA**

I woke up and I immediately wanted to go right back to sleep. My head hurt like hell. Have you ever had a tractor rolling over your head and somebody banging your head with a stick? That's what my head felt like. I groaned and sat up looking around me as I tried to ignore the pounding in my head. I stretched and got off the soft bed.

I looked around me and I rubbed my eyes to try and decipher where exactly I was, then I looked behind me and saw a chair. I groaned inwardly, how had I fallen asleep on the couch? All I remembered was taking like my tenth shot with Annabeth and I totally blacked out for the rest of the night.

I walked into the kitchen to see a shirtless boy with black hair listening to music and cooking. He greeted me without turning round to face me, "Hey Thalia,"

"Hello shirtless black haired boy," he chuckled lightly. I observed his back as he cooked, his muscles not bulging disgustingly but plainly visible and they moved in the most mesmerising manner every time he moved. I sniffed the air, "What is that it smells amazing?"

"Oh, this is my special breakfast just a couple of eggs because it's so early in the morning." He responded still not turning his back to face me.

I scrunched up my eyebrows, "What time is it?"

"Its seven thirty" he answered. I swore violently, "Why the fuck am I up at this time?"

"I have no idea darling and I know you must be hung over as hell from yesterday night so I got you some aspirin." He finished what he was cooking and loaded it onto the plate then he slid it over to me.

He finally looked up at me and then a very shocked expression crossed his face before he raised an eyebrow questioningly. I sat there confused, "What, what's wrong?"

"Um Thalia, do you realise that you are um, devoid of a few choice articles of clothing?"

I looked down and nearly fainted. I was wearing nothing but my black panties, how on earth had I not noticed this? Oh right I was hung over as fuck. I threw my hands over my chest and looked back at him to scold him for staring. But he had turned his back to me and held out a black hoodie.

I grabbed it and put it on swiftly before I sat down, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe that just happened." I was still beetroot red when he turned to face me and smirked, "I'm guessing you don't remember any of yesterday night? "

"Not a clue do you have any idea what happened?"

He smiled widely and there was a mischievous glint in his eye, "Well other than you screwing me on the couch, I don't believe I remember much else."

I believe my face lost its entire colour and my heart nearly stopped, "Wait, we had sex? How did we have sex?"

Nico laughed, "Oh we did it more than once, first you sat on my lap a-," I cut him off my face returning to its old beetroot colour.

"I don't mean how we did it, I mean why, what led to it?"

"Well you and Annabeth were playing strip truth or dare then for one of her dares she told you to seduce me and I walked out of my room to find you in a, um, compromising situation and Bing, boom bang, we're banging on the couch."

Then something crossed my mind, "Did you use a condom, what if I get pregnant, how could you take advantage of me like that?"

I was on the edge of panic when he burst laughing, "Calm down Thalia, nothing happened. You and Annabeth did play strip truth or dare but I was in my room before I could see anything."

I let out a long sigh and held my heart but my relief was short lived when Percy strolled out of his room in nothing but a pair of sweats glanced at my attire then at Nico's lack of attire then raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing happened!" I screeched quickly, to defend myself, big Mistake.

Percy immediately countered through his laughter, "Why are you so defensive Thalia, is there something you aren't telling me?" I was about to argue my case but Percy raised his hand, "It's all right, I know nothing happened. Although the dares he told me you and Annabeth asked him to do were pretty kinky," he winked at me then they both burst into laughter at my horrified expression.

Their laughter must have woken Annabeth up because the next minute she wades out of the boys room, her blonde hair scattered in all different angles. She wore Percy's blue hoodie and nothing else that I could see.

"What's all the commotion?" Her voice was thick with sleep and a hangover.

I turned to see Percy and Nico's faces. Nico had his eyes on Percy, whose gaze ran slowly along the length of Annabeth. I thought I could see lust but it disappeared in a second and was replaced by a mischievous glint much like the one Nico had.

Percy held out a hand for Annabeth, "Hey darling, yesterday night was amazing." I was amazed when Annabeth held on to his hand and he pulled her into his embrace.

He was sitting on a stool so he positioned her in between his legs and wrapped his arms around her, she didn't even flinch. It was weird because Annabeth looked like she belonged to Percy but I brushed the thought away, the two of them were too different. They would never survive together.

Annabeth seemed to be waking up a bit more now, "What happened yesterday?"

She was still groggy and stood in between Percy's leg as he had his arm wrapped around her waist. He whispered something in her ear which seemed to wake Annabeth right up because she turned crimson red before she looked down at what she was wearing. She stopped for a second and pointed between the two of them, unable to form the words.

Percy just nodded his head and Annabeth froze for a second then ran to the room. Percy looked concerned and followed her, pretty soon we heard her throwing up. At this point Nico and I looked at each other and then cracked up laughing.

I finished the eggs on my plate and looked at Nico, "That was the best batch of eggs I've ever eaten in my entire life. How did you learn to cook so well?"

He smiled, "Spend enough holidays with my relatives in Milan and you'll learn some really cool recipes."

"Please take me to meet these relatives, there a few things I love more than quality food." I winked at him and turned back to see Annabeth being dragged back here by Percy.

She looked a bit better having thrown up half of her guts. He pushed her into the seat and got a glass of water, and then he got a wet towel and walked back over to her. He pushed her hair out of the way gently and placed the wet towel over her head. Then he handed her the glass of water with the aspirin and said, "Drink," he pointed a finger at the glass and folded his arms expectantly.

Annabeth just looked absolutely confused but did as he asked. Once she was done she cleared her throat, "So, uh, did we actually you know" she flushed dark red again.

Percy's mouth twitched but his face was still straight, "No Annabeth we did not have sex but I do have to commend your drunken efforts to make it that way," Annabeth blushed even more if that was possible but Percy just continued, "And I do have to tell you that I am really not that bad in bed so I don't see why the thought would provoke you to relocate your guts down the toilet."

Nico and I burst into fits of laughter again which caused Percy to roll his eyes and Annabeth to blush even more.

I continued laughing and calmed down after the tears started running down my cheeks. "That was true comedy, but now it's back to the real life. We need to get showered and go down for breakfast."

"Thalia's right but I need to ask you guys something first. Can some normal mortals see through the mist?" Percy inquired.

"Yes, there are some mortals who are blessed with the ability to see everything as it is clearly. It's really rare but there are a few, why do you ask?"

Percy just stood frozen for a second and Nico looked at him. They had some kind of silent conversation with their eyes and Percy snapped his head round to look at me, "I think I just figured out who the blessed soul we're going to save is,"

"Who?" Annabeth asked,

"My mother."

I was so shocked that I was silent for a full minute, "Wait, why do you think it's your mother? It could be any other mortal."

Percy shook his head, "I know it's her. I had a dream about her and she was in this garden alone. I went up to talk to her and she told me that she had been kidnapped by some monsters. I, I thought she was dead all this time," his voice cracked but he continued, "She was the one who led me to camp, leaving letters and instructions. I am going to get her back safely if it's the last thing I do."

With that he turned and stalked to his room. I sighed," Alright everyone time to get cracking we have a quest to finish."

* * *

Within the next two hours we were already back on the road with Nico driving this time. Percy's face looked stoic and focused a look which it hardly ever bore. We drove through Illinois and by a bit after midday we were half way through Missouri. Nico pulled into a McDonalds on the highway and parked, "We have a lunch break; we don't want to spend too much time so we can be at least a quarter ways through Kansas before we stop for the night."

Annabeth and I nodded and hopped out of the car. Immediately I felt a disturbance but I wrote it off, we walked into the McDonalds and I grabbed a table while Annabeth got the orders, shortly after I was joined by Nico and Percy. I noticed that when they entered with their sunglasses on looking quite good, oh who am I kidding they looked stunning, all the women in the vicinity turned to stare.

I ignored the stares mostly, but I had this creeping feeling that I was being watched. I looked at Nico who tensed and scrunched his eyebrows, then his eyes opened wide and he leaned over to talk to us, "This place is crawling with monsters, There are three keres here that I can sense, but something tells me those server women are not human either."

"Shit, Annabeth's over there what are we going to do?"

Percy's frown got deeper, "Nico you and Thalia try and get out, and if we have to fight I don't think we want to be inside. I'll go get Annabeth."

I nodded; it seemed like a sound plan. Nico and I casually got up and walked out the door,

"You didn't think you could run away from my minions that easily did you?" once I heard that voice I turned to its source and saw a very beautiful woman standing there glaring at Nico and I.

"Who are you?" I asked rudely

"I prefer not to give my identity out to female demi pests, but for male demi gods I tend to make an exception." She turned away from me and looked at Nico, "Hello my dear and who's beautiful specimen are you? I hope you don't mind that I want us to have some privacy so my friends are going to take care of girly here."

I looked around me and saw that there were six Keres beginning to surround Nico and I but they looked more focused on me than on Nico.

"I'm sorry Lady, you see I don't really condone evil she demons eating my friends but thanks anyway." Nico smirked.

The woman's smile faltered as she realised what Nico said, "Wait, did you just reject me?" her voice went up two octaves.

And as if on cue, all hell burst out; Percy burst out the door with Annabeth close behind. They shut the door and moved away and everything outside was still before the woman seemed to realise what was happening and screeched, "Get them!"

We all ran out of the circle so we weren't surrounded, but we would have to fight eventually. I brought out my spear and tapped on my bracelet to transform into my shield, Aegis.

Nico tapped on his bracelet and was suddenly covered from head to toe in special black armour. He saw me staring and winked at me through his visor.

"I'm about to raise a wall so get ready to fight!" I heard him shout then he waved his hand and out came a huge black wall.

I stopped for a minute to catch my breath then he looked at all of us, "Ready?" he asked.

I looked at Annabeth who had her invisibility cap in her hand; Percy was in armour very similar to Nico's with a trident strapped on his back and a bow and arrow set. Then Nico had a staff in his hand with a bow and arrow set strapped to his back.

I looked into all their eyes waiting for confirmation and we all nodded and looked at Nico, "Ready, set, go!" The wall came down and the crowd of monsters who were about thirty feet away started rushing towards us.

The guys were very good archers taking down more than a dozen monsters before they were near us. In a flash Percy had his trident in his hand and Nico held his black staff which had black blades lining the end if the stick.

I fought the small crowd of monsters I had with all my strength and one of them cut my side which was unprotected and it hurt like hell. I cried out softly in pain and turned to face the monster that attacked me. It promptly turned to dust and in my momentary distraction, another monster took a hit at my other side. I cried out in pain and stabbed the monster in the gut.

My wounds were not that bad but because I couldn't stop to get them fixed I was losing a lot of blood. I saw Nico making his way towards me, taking down monsters left right and centre. He saw what state I was in then looked into my eyes. His eyes were pitch black, no whites could be seen, like they had been in the little battle at camp. He looked pretty angry when he looked at me and muttered something then I promptly blacked out.

I woke up with a pounding headache much like this morning but this time to add to it my sides were store. I sat up and groaned, "What on earth happened?"

"You got hurt in the fight and you were momentarily incapacitated," Nico paused for a moment before continuing, "Actually if you had kept on as you were you would have died, I momentarily sent you to sleep so I could finish the monsters off"

I looked at him then realised that we were in the car on our way again but this time he was sitting with me at the back and Annabeth was in front either unconscious or sleeping I wasn't sure. "She's unconscious. She got hit over the head rather painfully by a shield; worst part is the monster didn't even know she was there." Nico shook his head

"I looked at her worried, "Is she going to be okay?" He nodded, "She'll be fine, and we're pretty good at the whole healing thing."

I sighed in relief then I remembered something, "What on earth was with your eyes?"

He sighed and looked away, "I'm the son of the Devil and technically I'm a creature of the underworld, the black eyes are a side effect of my powers. It also happens when I'm really angry,"

I shrugged, "That's cool, I was just wondering," I looked out the window and it was pitch black, "Where are we and what time is it?"

"We're nearly out of Colorado, the hotels just up the road and it is ten thirty." Percy answered,

"How on earth did we get across Colorado so fast?" I asked

Nico smirked, "Well while you guys were passed out, Percy disregarded almost all driving rules he knew and floored it"

"Thank the gods I wasn't awake to see that then, I would have died from cardiac arrest." I rolled my eyes and Nico chuckled.

We drove in silence for a few minutes then Nico spoke, "So Thalia, tell me about yourself. I know nothing about you except you don't like not knowing things and you're an excellent fighter."

I smiled at him and blushed slightly, "I was born in California, my mother was a famous actress called Jasmine Grace, and she died not too long ago. I have a brother Jason who you haven't really met because he's always with Piper. I met Annabeth when we were both seven and I've lived in camp ever since. I'm seventeen and I'm about to start in my senior year of high school."

"But I thought you and Annabeth were starting at NYU in autumn?"

"Nah, that technically isn't true. We're both seventeen. Annabeth's only eighteen in February and me in April."

"What's it like living in camp all your life?" He looked at me curiously.

I gave him an answer that wasn't the usual brush off; I mean he saved my life. At least he deserves the truth, "It's great sometimes, you always have family, and you're always protected. But in some other ways it's disconcerting. It disconnects you from the rest of the world, so either you become so in this world that it becomes your only reality or you go out, explore more take risks and gain proper experience. The best camp can do for you is train you, but till you have the experience to look a monster in the eye and still slay it, you're doomed."

He nodded in understanding, "What was your first monster?"

"Hellhound when I was twelve," The memories of the day came flashing back. "I lost a friend that day, a boy, his name was Alan. We were on a date, nothing too serious we even had a chaperone with us, an older kid from camp to make sure we didn't get in trouble. I went to the bathroom and came out to find him dead. The monster ripped him in two literally, there was so much blood. The older guy was about to get finished off by the beast and I saw it and my mind when blank with fury. Next thing I know, I wake up in camp and I'm being told the older guy didn't make it either."

A tear rolled down my cheek but I wiped it off swiftly, "I really liked the kid Alan, I liked him a lot and I never got to tell him," I looked at Nico and saw him scrutinizing me under his intense gaze. I looked away and continued speaking, "It's one of the hazards of being demi god; the fact that you lose friends so easily, and so quickly. The ones you love can be gone in the blink of an eye."

I looked away then not wanting to speak about the subject further, it was already painful enough. I was grateful when he didn't call me or try speaking to me. I didn't think I could handle any more stories or questions in my fragile frame of mind.

**NICO**

The story was so sad, so unfortunate that she experienced such a horrendous fatality at such a young age. I didn't try to talk to her after that. I could see that telling me that story took a lot out of her.

The rest of the drive to the hotel was pretty short but absolutely silent. Once we arrived, Percy gently lifted Annabeth out of the car and into the hotel. It wasn't anything near as extravagant as the other one but it was also nearly fully booked except one of the larger suites with a queen bed and a pull out sofa bed.

Percy lightly placed Annabeth on the bed and gently swept her hair away from her face. It was such a gentle gesture something I had never seen before with him.

He sighed and looked up at me, "We should get to sleep. Something tells me tomorrow is going to be a very long day,"

I nodded and Thalia got her duffel bag and walked into the bathroom only re-emerging minutes later in her pyjamas.

There wasn't much talk, I could sense that she was still upset and Percy was still worried about Annabeth so I just changed into my slacks and got into the sofa bed without a shirt on.

I had to talk to Percy but I wanted to wait for Thalia to fall asleep before I said anything even though she wouldn't be able to hear me anyway.

In a couple of minutes, I heard Thalia's breathing slow down and grow steady. I turned to Percy to say something to him, "What's going on with you?"

"I don't know Nico, I'm so confused. Seeing Annabeth nearly die reminded me that it's almost impossible for me to be killed but my friends can die at any time. I'm not going to grow old ever and all around me people are going to move on, move up and live life."

I had been thinking the same things somewhere in my head, but I never wanted them to come to the surface, "I know exactly how you feel, but Percy we'll have each other at least. It is better than not having anyone."

He nodded solemnly and I continued speaking, "Remember Percy, we were not born to grow old; we were born to be immortal. Regardless of the fact that we won't turn twenty one we are still fulfilling our destiny."

He looked at me, his green eyes dull and filled with sadness, "I know Nico, I know but it doesn't mean I have to like it or be happy with it." I simply nodded in understanding and decided to let Percy sleep.

I turned over on my side and fell asleep and I had a disturbing dream

I was standing in a large cavern which had about ten vampires seated in a circle. The one who looked like the leader stood up as an Empousai approached.

"My lord," the Empousai bowed to the man. He waved his hand and ordered her to get up.

"What is the status report on the demi-gods?"

"They are currently resting everything is going according to plan. The troops are being assembled at an impressive rate. Our mistress will be very pleased with the work we have done."

The vampire man nodded, "Excellent, soon my brothers and sisters. We shall destroy Olympus and return to the world to live as we please. All we have to do is finish the demi gods on this quest, and our mistress can have her revenge on her ex-spouse."

The man walked across the table and was joined by the Empousai who entered the room before, "Sir," she purred, "You have a visitor," and then she looked straight at me, "Hello young Demi-god, I see what my sister was talking about but now that you have killed her I will have my revenge." She suddenly bared her fangs and lunged at me. I shot straight up in the bed which woke Percy up.

"What's the matter Nico?" he asked his voice still thick with sleep.

"Bad dream," I checked the time on my watch, "Urgh," I groaned, "It's already eight, it's time to get up if we want to get to California today."

I rolled off the bed and stretched unconsciously. I stopped myself mid-stretch and remembered it didn't make a difference if I stretched or not. I looked over at the bed where the girls were sleeping and I noticed that Annabeth was out of the bed while Thalia still lay curled up under the covers.

Percy had already noticed and began to look for her, "Annabeth are you there?" he asked tentatively knocking on the bathroom door. We heard no reply from behind the door. I decided to try another tactic, "Track her scent, I'll wake Thalia up." I said to him.

He nodded and made his way out. I focused on Thalia, which was the best way to wake her up?

I decided to just walk up to her and call her name, "Thalia wake up," she shifted in her sleep but didn't look like she was going to stand up. I tried again, "Thalia come on wake up," this time I shook her hand gently; she still did not budge.

I sighed and thought of the best way to wake her up. I smiled evilly as an idea formed in my head, nothing extravagant; I was more if the classic types. I walked into the bathroom and got what I needed silently and then I slipped back into the room.

I steadily dripped the cup of water down her forehead and when she still didn't wake up I rolled my eyes and emptied the entire cup down her head.

She sat bolt up and sputtered uncontrollably before noticing me snickering in the background and blowing her top. She glared at me then stood up slowly, menacingly.

"Now Thalia I had to wake you up, I tried the normal way but you wouldn't get up." I tried to reason with her but she just kept stalking towards me. I moved back but I knew I would run out of space soon so I held my hands out at her.

I could only take two more steps before I felt my back hit the wall but before Thalia could pounce, the door burst open and in came my saving grace.


	11. Chapter 11

**I am so sorry for the late upload, Back to school and every thing is crazy. **

**A lot more romance now than before. Things winding down to come to an end.**

**Review Pleasee x Thanks**

**ANNABETH**

I barged into the room and took in the sight before me; Thalia had a menacing look on her face and looked to be approaching a scared looking Nico who had no space to back away. Her hair looked wet and so did her shirt so I was guessing he had gone for the "classic" wake up scheme. Two words, bad move.

I decided I should probably stop her before she gutted him. "Thalia, I have your morning coffee. It's black with two spoons of sugar," I said in a sing-song voice.

She stopped suddenly then turned around to eyeball the cup in my hand. She glanced back at Nico and then back at the cup as if trying to decide who to pick. She made the most obvious choice and grabbed the cup of coffee from my hand while strolling to the small kitchenette.

She gulped the entire thing, regardless of how hot it was, in about a minute then turned to look at the rest of us staring at her gobsmacked.

She raised an eyebrow, "What are you guys staring at?"

I shook my head and walked into the room and plopped myself on the bed. My head was still sore from being hit by a shield and I knew I had to thank Percy and Nico for taking care of me. I noticed Percy was still standing at the door looking at me.

I shifted uncomfortably under his intense gaze. He seemed to realize he was making me uncomfortable because he averted his gaze and directed it at Nico.

"We need to get on the road; we're driving through Arizona today so we can get to California by the end of today." He said.

Thalia and I nodded and I walked into the shower. I didn't remember much of last night, I remembered that during the fight then suddenly there was a piercing pain behind my head and I blacked out.

This morning I had woken up with a sore head and dry throat, I decided to go out for some fresh air and to get some coffee. I hadn't been gone long when I heard Percy speak behind me; his face expressionless but his sea green eyes radiating concern, "Are you okay?" he asked me.

_Flashback_

_I nodded and continued walking toward the counter, "two coffees black please." I croaked to the attendant. She nodded and winked at Percy then proceeded to get my coffees, swaying her hips excessively as she did so._

_I rolled my eyes at her slutty behaviour and proceeded to try and ignore Percy's piercing gaze as he studied me. I spoke without looking at him, "Why are you staring at me?" _

"_I just wanted to be sure you were alright, that blow to your head was not light." He answered. _

"_I'm not a frail feather you know, I can take a blow to my head. I don't need you to keep treating me like some kind of weakling." I answered back in an irritated voice. _

_Percy raised his eyebrows at my answer and then his eyes narrowed, "I see it now, you are too proud to accept help. You hate to seem weak especially in front of a lowly boy; especially one who you know is stronger than you." He moved closer to me his voice was softer but no less serious, "its okay to be proud Annabeth, but sometimes it is also important to yield and admit to defeat."_

_I was about to make a retort but the coffee lady came with our drinks. Percy reached out and paid before I could even ask for the price. He told the girl to keep the change and her eyes widened. Percy grabbed my hand and pulled me along before I could see how much he gave. _

"_Come on; let's go back to the room before Thalia Kills Nico for waking her up." He said without looking at me,_

"_Now hold on, I still have something to say to you about that little speech earlier. Whoever told you that you were stronger than me, just because you-" I started,_

"_I believe what you want to say is thank you Percy for saving my life" He interrupted me without even looking at my face as he walked ahead of me back to the room. I stood there frozen for a second before I ran ahead of him and burst through the door."_

_End flashback_

As I stepped into the shower I was still thinking about what Percy said to me. I knew I should have just said thank you because honestly there was nothing wrong with what he did. He was just being caring, trying to take care of me like Luke had.

I think that was what bothered me, Percy was brave, funny, and so far he seemed honest and caring. There was no denying that he was good looking, the best you could possibly get, powerful but not overly arrogant or power hungry and an all in all good guy.

I think that's why it bothered me because Luke was just like that when we first met; Brave, funny, honest, caring, good looking and a great warrior, the best in the entire camp. But now he had changed, he didn't seem to have those great traits anymore.

I went through the motions of getting ready, still wholly lost in thought. Thalia and Nico finished first so Percy told Nico to get the car out and Thalia decided to tag along. In essence Percy and I were left alone.

I paused and shifted on my leg, still standing at one point. Percy seemed to notice that I wasn't moving and looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Is there something wrong Annabeth?" he asked looking slightly confused.

I shook my head quickly and blushed, "uh, no there isn't anything wrong." I looked at his face and continued, "I, uhh, just felt like I should um apologise for being such a bitch this morning and also thank you for saving my life." I blushed even more as I finished but when his face didn't change, I shifted my eyes to the floor where I was playing with my feet.

I heard him moving and soon he was right in front of me his eyes twinkling in amusement, "You are very welcome Annabeth," my heart went double time as he spoke my name. He stood closer to me and was so close now that when he breathed I could smell his breath, "It's okay to need help okay, and when you need it I'll be there to give it to you." He leaned in and kissed my forehead his lips were light and ridiculously soft. My breath hitched when he then whispered in my ear, "Let's go, we have a long day ahead of us."

With that he broke away and continued packing. I was still struggling to have coherent thoughts and I was trying very hard to ignore any and everything my body was telling me. I hope I wasn't as much of a wreck on the outside as I was on the inside because that would be very bad.

I finished before Percy and stood at the door waiting for him; he walked over and opened the door flashing a smile while gently motioning for me to leave first. I chuckled, oh Percy ever the gentleman.

Nico was driving this time with Thalia and I in the back as usual. There was a happy atmosphere in the car, we all chatted and had a nice time bantering and telling stories about each other.

The guys told us stories about school and we told them stories about camp. We played a few rounds of 'Never have I ever' and twenty questions just so we could find out things about each other. We all swore on the Styx that no one would tell anyone else anything they found out here. There were loads of funny moments and awkward moments.

One was when Percy said; "Never have I ever had sex on the beach" Percy and Nico raised their hands to signify they hadn't but Thalia and I just glanced at each other and kept our hands down.

Nico raised an eyebrow, "Who did you have it with?" Thalia, still not understanding what they meant said, "With a couple of people,"

Nico's eyes widened at that, "At once or separately?" He questioned.

"At once of course, the more the merrier." It was at that point I realised what they meant that I burst out laughing. I saw Percy and Nico's faces which only made me laugh harder.

"Thalia," I said between breaths, "I don't think they were talking about the cocktail," I managed to choke out. I saw Thalia's eyes widen in realisation then she went beetroot red.

Percy and Nico also realised and laughed out loud. We went on laughing for ages, continuing our games and generally being teenagers.

By the time it was three, Thalia and I were hungry. "Guys," I moaned, "I'm hungry, there's a Burger King right there let's stop and eat."

Percy shook his head, "I say we have a couple of minutes to stretch our legs while Nico and I get the food and then we eat on the way. Something tells me we don't have much time left."

I shrugged; I didn't care as long as I got food. We pulled up outside the burger king who was off the highway and we all jumped out of the car.

Thalia and I stood around the car just stretching and feeling the fresh air. The sun shone brightly and warmed us up enough that we weren't toasty either. I looked around me and I spotted a few houses and stores, almost like a little town on the outskirts of the city.

I continued to feel the skin beating down on my skin and continued feeling relaxed when I heard something rustle in the bushes a couple of feet away. I snapped my eyes open and my head turned towards the direction of the rustle.

Thalia seemed to have heard it to because she was suddenly alert and ready to go. We both stalked quietly towards the bush to try and see what was making all the noise.

When we were ten meters away, we heard a hissing sound in front of us; I glanced at Thalia and suddenly had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something was telling me not to fight this animal by myself but to get Percy and Nico but I ignored it.

We were strong; we could hold our own for a while. Suddenly there was a large hydra glaring at me; it's many heads aimed at me. I saw it open its mouth and I immediately went into battle mode and jumped out of the way. I landed awkwardly on my ankle and pain burst through my leg and into my body. I saw that Thalia had distracted it for a while but I knew it wouldn't be long before it finished her off then came for me.

I tried to get up but I couldn't. I swore as the pain arced through me again and when Thalia was scratched across the stomach and hit to the side I let out a small gasp. The monster made its way towards me and a line of the prophecy flashed through my head.

So this is where it ends I thought as the monster loomed over me. Its claw sank into my arm as it tried to drag me away. I let out an agonised scream as blood began to surge out of my wound.

The monster removed its claw from my hand as if my screams deterred it but before it could begin to devour me a flash of blue and grey slammed into its side.

The monster flew a clear thirty metres back and slammed into someone's car. I tried to refocus my gaze and saw Percy standing there and his face looked livid as he glared at the monster. He turned his attention to me and before I could even blink he was standing over me. How on earth did he get here so fast? I wondered.

"Nico, get Thalia she's lost a lot of blood I can smell it from over here, stop the bleeding I'll be over in a second to heal them." He shouted over to Nico.

Smell blood? What did he mean when he said he could smell blood? I lay there being dragged farther and farther away from consciousness as Percy took off his shirt to try and stop my bleeding.

But the monster seemed to have been pretty pissed off about being body slammed to oblivion; I heard the monster growl and Percy just ignored it still attending to my wounds. Once he seemed satisfied with his work, he called Nico who carried me and before I blacked out completely I saw Percy give the monster a look filled with seething hate. I had never seen so much hatred on someone's face and the look didn't make me anxious to get on Percy's bad side, ever.

* * *

I woke up to find myself in a soft, comfortable bed; my ankle was bound and my arm was bandaged. I felt so much better than I did after the fight but there were also some things that had me confused.

All the questions I wanted to ask were jumbled up inside my head and when I rose from the bed I noticed I wasn't in the clothes I was wearing before. I was now wearing a tank top and pair of cotton trousers. How did I get into these clothes? I blushed as a plausible answer made its way into my head.

I walked out of the door to find myself in a large modern looking apartment. The tones were very deep brown to make it look homey but the windows were floor to ceiling, probably with reflective glass to stop peeping toms.

Percy stood at one of the chairs in front of the window playing with the water inside a bowl beside him. He twirled the water around his fingers making it turn into different shapes; a boat, a mini trident and the face of a woman who I assumed was his mother. I stood fascinated by his ability and watched him in awe but he seemed to sense me because he suddenly spoke, "Did you know it's not polite to stare?"

I stood shaken by his sudden announcement that I was momentarily dazed into silence. When I didn't answer he turned round to look at me. His green eyes looked sad and tired so different from before. "How long was I asleep for?"

"A little over two days," was his answer. I was shocked from such a relatively tiny wound?

He seemed to notice my confusion, "the monsters claw was poisoned Annabeth and he nearly severed your artery. It was a very serious injury."

I blinked, shocked. How had he healed me without the members of the Apollo cabin? They were usually the only ones who could do much in situations like that; but that wasn't my biggest concern.

"Where's Thalia and where are we?" I asked frantically,

"She's fine, her wounds were a lot more superficial; slight concussion and flesh wounds. Right now I believe she and Nico are getting food from the store down the road. This is my apartment, well technically it's for my mum, but you get the point."

I relaxed instantaneously but I realised he still looked very stressed and tired. I walked over to where he was sitting and sat in the chair opposite him. He seemed to realise that maybe I wanted to talk and started the conversation of his own accord,

"It's weird; she's been dead to me for nearly three years. I have learned to get over it and move on with my life relying on Nico and a few others. Sure I had friends, loads of them, and I had girlfriends who I was deeply infatuated with but I had my main supports." He looked away from me and out the window,

"Nico was the only one who knew absolutely everything about me. My mum loved me cared for me but she didn't know. I grew accustomed to her not being there now it feels like she was on a long holiday and she's coming back soon. Now I know she's alive it's like she never left, but I keep thinking, keep imagining what it would be like if I fail and she gets killed, for real this time." His voice was barely a whisper.

He turned back to look at me, "The worst part is that even though my life is thoroughly fucked up right now and It's about to get ten times worse, Nico's life is still worse."

I was about to ask him what he meant by that but he interrupted me, "I had another dream and this time I know where we will find my mother, in the garden of the Hesperides."

My eyes widened, "The garden of the Hesperides is guarded by a giant dragon called Ladon, it's virtually impossible for us to get in there." Percy shook his head, "You underestimate how strong Nico and I are separately much less as a team, Ladon will not be a problem. Our real problem will be getting my mother out alive and getting you and Thalia out alive as well."

I blinked shocked at what he said and I replied sharply, "You can die you know, just because you guys are the chosen ones doesn't mean you can't be killed."

Percy's eyes seemed to soften but his voice remained the same dull tone it was before, "I know I can be killed but trust me Annabeth, it takes a hell of a lot more to kill me than it does to kill you even though I'm worth a lot less. You have a family Annabeth, you have friends and you have the possibility of growing older and having your own kids…" he trailed off and shook his head.

I looked at him and noticed the anguish hidden in the depths of his eyes flash across for one second and I tried to reply, "That doesn't mean anything-," but I didn't get any more words out before his head snapped up and he looked at me fiercely,

"It means something Annabeth, you have the ability and the chance to fall in love, create your own family and live as happily ever after as a demigod can. Don't ever take that opportunity for granted."

I was about to continue the argument but he held his finger up and stopped me. He stood stark still for a second before he turned towards the door and ran to it so fast I almost couldn't see him.

"Stay there!" he shouted before he disappeared out the door.

**PERCY POV.**

Anguish is pretty much all I am feeling right now. This was the second time Annabeth had almost died on this quest and Thalia of course. It was so hard to protect her when they were so proud and self-sufficient, yet I couldn't let her die, I just couldn't.

She didn't want to believe me as I explained how lucky she was, she didn't understand what I was going through being eternally stuck as a vampire. While they were knocked out, Nico and I had raided a blood bank which would keep us hopefully till the quest ended.

My dad was right, the urges were getting stronger. I was seething in this argument and I was getting increasingly frustrated. I shouldn't be feeling this way yet, I should have more chance to enjoy eternal youth before I started yearning for the married life I would not have. Unfortunately, I would always be the family type, the one that is too loyal to ever cheat on his wife because that's just the way I am.

As if this night couldn't get any worse, I heard a crash from the front desk and Nico just said, "Percy, we have a very very big couple of problems here and one of them is like us."

Once he said that my frozen blood ran cold. There was a vampire on the premises and I didn't like Thalia and Annabeth's odds. I immediately ran out the door making sure to shout at Annabeth to stay there. I sincerely hope she heeded my warning because this is not a fight she wants to be involved in.

Once I was out the door I ran at top speed down the fire escape stairs only slowing down to burst out the door and make it look like I had been running at normal speeds. The sight before me was not pretty; I could see the vampire and he stood on the back of a beast with a Lion's head and a goat head.

Before him in a semi-circle were a pack of angry looking skeleton men with ugly looking swords crusted with blood. Thalia stood beside Nico half shielded by him and the man just sat atop the chimera smiling eerily.

"Well what do you know, there are two of you" The mistress is going to be pleased to hear that.

I scowled at him, "Who is your mistress?"

He smiled wider, "Now, now chosen one of Poseidon, why on earth should I tell _you_ that. After all, she is your relative." If it was possible, his smile extended even more.

I scanned through the list of people it could be and I couldn't think of anyone.

"Well, she sent me here to ask you to join her side. I believe the exact words were, 'There is more of your kind there and you will never be under the threatening eye of the Olympians'. But quite unfortunately I will have to kill the lady you travel with.

That set me straight, "Over my dead body." I said through clenched teeth. And as if on cue, Annabeth burst out of the staircase fire door breathing deeply from her running and wielding her sword. Upon seeing her I cursed to the high heavens, the man in front of us smiled a sinister smile.

"Well my mistake, I'll have to kill the Ladies you travel with." He chuckled.

"You aren't killing anyone just yet, first I have to kill you then I can negotiate with your lemmings is that alright?" I taunted him.

His smile vanished and he didn't seem to find my joke very funny. He simply smirked and said, "Attack" then all the monsters except the Chimera charged at us.

I looked at Annabeth, she was in no shape to fight and she wasn't particularly equipped for it either.

"I told you to stay in the room!" I snapped as I beheaded a skeleton soldier then stabbed another in the stomach.

"I don't care what you told me, I couldn't let you get yourself killed in a stupid quest for self-fulfilment" she screamed as she dismantled another skeleton beside me.

I grew increasingly frustrated when I realised that the Skeletons just kept regenerating themselves and I hissed, "I cannot be killed and I am not going to try and kill myself!"

She looked puzzled for a second but that second was long enough. A skeleton man lunged for her and had his sword aimed straight for her chest. I intercepted the blow with my sword and subsequently decapitated it.

I didn't stop to think twice before I called over at Nico who as fighting Back to back with Thalia.

"Di Angelo, how do we stop these things?"

"I need to kill them with my sword, they can't regenerate then." He decapitated the last one on them then moved over to us, "You and Annabeth get over to where Thalia is, I'll finish this up."

I nodded and grabbed Annabeth as she tried to protest. Nico wore his full body armour and got in the middle of all the skeleton things. I watched him and smiled as an idea came into my head. I adorned my armour and got out my bow and arrow; as I shot the arrows temporarily stalling them so they weren't all going at Nico at the same time.

One arrow I shot got into the skeleton's chest and it erupted into golden dust. My smile grew more pronounced as I shot more arrows at that same spot on other skeleton soldiers, effectively ending them.

Once we were done with those, the vampire guy started clapping, "Quite the show, that was phenomenal." He back flipped of the Chimera and onto the floor and was in front of me in a tenth of a second. I winced slightly as I heard the girls gasp in surprise.

The man turned to face them and he smiled wider, they seemed to stand there shocked as they noticed his red eyes. "Yes children, I am not human. I think your friends here know what I am but I can't be quite sure." My scowl grew more pronounced as he continued talking.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," I growled.

He laughed, "Don't you, Perseus Jackson, Don't you?" he chuckled again, "Well, play time is over. My friend here is going to keep you occupied while I kill your girlfriends."

Now I was angry, I could feel the power building up, power I had never knew I possessed. "Over my dead body" and I attacked him.

"Annabeth, Thalia, get the Chimera; Nico come on!" I shouted.

He was fast, but I was angry so I was more alert and more violent. We needed to take this outside we couldn't let Annabeth or Thalia see this.

"Nico, outside!" Nico responded immediately making a rock ball envelope him and throw him outside. We joined him outside at normal speed to see him about to escape from the rock constraints.

Shards of ebony stone scattered everywhere as he broke free and looked at us angry. He charged me and grabbed my neck but Nico got behind him and strangled him. He realised pretty quickly that he was not in a favourable position because then he let go of me and flipped Nico over his shoulder. Nico seemed to realise what he was doing and flipped the dude while he was still in mid-air.

"That is so cool!" I shouted like an excited year eight boy. But I had to get back into action. As the guy hit the floor I was there to lift him up and throw him again. This time he crashed into the concrete creating a dent in it and was up in a flash. Nico didn't seem to think he deserved the chance to rest though because suddenly he whacked the guys hand off with his staff and I saw a hand fly off somewhere.

He screamed in pain and glared at Nico, but before he was able to attack I brought out my trident and whacked off his leg. He screamed again and fell to the floor decapitated. "Time to end this," I thought.

Nico seemed to have the same idea as he stood behind the guy and tore his head off cleanly. Nico made hell fire consume his remains and a scream from inside drew us back to the battle.


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry for the shit chapter, it's been a long week.**

**The story is ending soon and any ideas for a new one would be appreciated. Or an amazing ending for this one.. Thanks.**

**PERCY**

Our fight with the vampire dude much shorter than we thought it was because when we came back inside, the girls were still doing a pretty good job of battling the Chimera but they hadn't succeeded yet. I pulled out a volley of arrows and shot at its hide but only one or two actually stuck to it. Unfortunately I got the monsters attention and it didn't really look like it was happy to see me; it turned to me faster than I thought was possible for a monster of that size and immediately shot a breath of fire at me. I was more than a hundred percent sure that if I wasn't a vampire I would have been roasted alive right there and then.

I dodged its attack by running over to Nico who groaned, "Percy, why did you bring it my way? I don't know how to kill it!" he fumed as he shot shards of black rock at the creature.

"I had to try and not get turned into a live roasted duck; are you really going to get annoyed at me?" I shouted as I threw my trident at its leg. The trident penetrated its skin but it didn't slow it down.

I looked over for Thalia and Annabeth and they were both relatively fine and discussing something furiously. "Nico keep that thing occupied I need to check on Annabeth and Thalia," I ran off before he could even argue.

The Chimera saw me trying to make my escape though and slashed his venomous tongue at me. Again I saw how being a vampire has it's perks, I could easily see which way the tail was coming and I had riptide out in a flash ready to intercept the snake at the middle of its body. The motion was quick and fluid but it made the monster roar in pain and turn to me.

"Fuck," I whispered. "Annabeth, Thalia how the fuck do I kill this thing?!"

"Its mouth, target its mouth! Or you could try loping its head off I think that would work pretty well." Annabeth shouted. I heard something in her voice, it seemed strained. I imagined the worst and again I got worried

"Nico make this thing open its mouth and get ready to use your sword when I say go." I grabbed my trident and positioned myself in front of it. "Three, two, one, Go!"

Nico did something, I'm not really sure what, and the beast roared. I aimed my trident and threw it with as much force as possible and Nico jumped and stabbed the beast so hard where its heart should be that his sword was buried to the hilt. The trident soared into its mouth at unbelievable speeds and had enough force to protrude through the mouth and out of the head and it continued through the ceiling and into the night sky.

The beast went still and immediately began to disintegrate allowing the particles to scatter in the wind.

I sighed in relief and tried to look tired as I walked back over to them. "Are you guys alright?"

Thalia nodded and shot a nervous glance at Annabeth which I did not miss. I narrowed my eyes and asked again, "Are you sure you are both alright?"

This time Annabeth answered, "Yes, we only have a few cuts and bruises." Her heart rate had increased drastically so I wasn't quite sure I believed her.

I raised an eyebrow, "Oh really, well then you won't mind if I see your arms?" I knew I had her there when she hesitated to answer me. I could smell the chimera venom on her hand, I knew it wasn't serious but it must still hurt.

She was still being stubborn about it and I was getting very impatient. I let out an exasperated sigh and grabbed her into my arms away from Thalia's slightly protective stance. I carried her to the reception table which had long been deserted and placed her on top of it. I grabbed her arm from behind her back and glanced at it.

She let out a hiss from the pain of the swift movement and I instantly felt bad. My expression softened and so did my grip. I looked at her face and I saw she was avoiding my gaze. "I thought you said you only had a few cuts and bruises?"

"I didn't want you to worry." She pulled her arm away, "I can do it myself anyway."

She slid away from me and hopped off the counter and began making her way back to Thalia who was watching me with weary eyes. I didn't try and stop her this time, I let her walk away.

Nico came up to me and spoke, "Percy, we have a problem. We kind of destroyed the entire building so either we pay for it or the owner gets really angry."

I looked around at the damage and winced. There was no front door and most of the interior had been damaged by the large body of the chimera.

"Let's go back upstairs and get some sleep; I'll send the owner an email and sort everything out."

That seemed to satisfy Nico because he nodded and led the way back to our room.

I started to worry about Annabeth again, I really hoped that venom didn't get into her skin and spread because that would not be good.

We made our way back to the apartment with Nico and I couple of feet ahead. I could still hear what Annabeth and Thalia were talking about. We had already interrupted them while they were speculating why neither Nico nor I had been vaguely injured so now they were talking about what the vampire guy said.

Suddenly Thalia came up to me and tapped my arm, "Something's wrong with Annabeth, I think it's the venom." I swore under my breath so Thalia couldn't hear me.

I nodded at her, "Go ahead with Nico, I'll sort Annabeth out." She walked over to Nico who had now stopped and was watching me.

"Is there something you are not telling me Percy?" his eyes had narrowed slightly. I knew what he meant when he said that but I wasn't going to admit to anything. "No, go ahead. I'll meet you guys later."

I didn't wait for him to make any comments and I walked back to where Annabeth was. I knew there was something wrong with her when she jumped slightly at my well announced presence.

"You're sweating a bit Annabeth, are you okay?" She looked at me, the pupils of her grey eyes very dilated, "I'm fine, it's just a bit stuffy in here."

That was obviously a lie. The room was very well ventilated and cool, "Really Annabeth, so why is it that your pupils are dilated to that extent under the lights of the building?"

She faltered for a second, "I'm having very racy thoughts," she squeaked and she turned bright red.

I chuckled at her poor excuse of being horny, "What is my presence doing all that to you, or would you like me to satisfy you?" if it was possible she went brighter red and I laughed but that only served to make her angry.

"What do you want from me pervert?" she snapped at me while getting in my face, well she tried but I was quite a bit taller than her so it didn't really work.

"I want you to let me heal that wound before the venom, regardless of how small it is, kills you!" I snapped back mirroring her previous moves. There was silence as she fumed and I challenged her, our faces were bare inches apart and suddenly I felt the same urge as I had in the lift except it was stronger, much stronger.

She shook her head indignantly and said, "You can't force me to do anything" I raised my two eyebrows at her, "I really think that I can," she stomped her foot, "Wanna bet?" I smirked at her, "Yes I do."

I didn't even give her a chance to argue. I scooped her up and carried her lack a sack of potatoes, as per usual, and started walking. She tried everything to dislodge herself so I decided to scare her,

"I'd stay still if I were you because if I thing you're uncomfortable in that position I'll carry you like a young child."

She stopped squirming for a minute and gasped, "You wouldn't" I smiled widely, "Yes love, I think I would"

"Pervert," she grumbled,

"I'm only telling you because when you squirm, you push your chest against my back and you know what that means. She gasped but before she could insult me I dropped her in the pool, our destination.

She shrieked and glared at me, if not for the fact that it was so funny I would have been scared. I stood by the edge of the pool and laughed a bit before I calmed down. I solidified the water and stepped out onto it then I pulled her up and made a table for her to sit down.

She seemed better after being doused in water she was more alert. She rolled her eyes at the things I made with water, "What, you don't like it because I could just as well do this under water" I said confused.

"If you recall, I didn't want to do this in the first place. I was forced by a psychotic eighteen year old boy."

"Whatever."

We went upstairs once I was done with her arm and found Nico and Thalia playing FIFA 12 on my ps3.

"Fuck! You evil girl, you ripped me off!" Nico screamed.

"No one told you to put your Harley on the line" Thalia smirked,

"Well, you are going to be my slave if I win and I have a supernatural ability with this game." Nico winked at me discreetly and then started to play properly.

"You guys might want to finish this game and get some sleep. Tomorrow is the day we go to get my mother and hopefully we all get back alive. I'm going to get some sleep; I'll see you guys tomorrow."

As I walked away I heard Annabeth following me but I didn't turn till I was inside my room. "Is there anything you want Annabeth?"

She nodded and walked up to me and gave me a hug. I was so stunned for a hundredth of a second I almost didn't know how to react, but I figured I should probably return the hug. My arms snaked around her waist and I pulled her close being careful not to lift her of the floor. "Thank you again," she muttered before she leaned in to kiss my cheek but she almost missed and kissed my lips. She blushed and released me before walking back outside to her room.

I stood there stunned for a few seconds before I finally slipped into my bed and fell into deep sleep ridden with demigod dreams.

I stood in the same cavern as Nico described but this time I felt a Godly presence but I couldn't see anything.

"Where is the woman?" I heard a female voice ask

"She is chained in the garden my mistress," a male voice who I assumed was the leader responded

"Good all we have to do is wait for them to come to her rescue then they can be killed and leave those foolish Olympians wide open!"

"But my mistress, why are these particular children so important?"

"They aren't, I just want revenge and what better way to do that than to kill his only child in the last eighty odd years?" The female voice cackled.

"Yes my mistress and our reward?"

"Yes, I shall ensure that you have your districts dedicated to you so you can hunt as you please. However, the terms of our deal still stand create any new vampires and you will be incinerated, all of you." She paused them seemingly spoke directly to me

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it was rude to eaves drop son of Poseidon? There is no way to get out of this one; you will be destroyed along with the rest of the Olympians." She cackled manically

Suddenly I was in my father's palace; he was sitting on his throne but in normal human size.

"Percy, you have done well my son." I bowed to him and followed him as he beckoned me over to a table.

"Father, what is happening who is trying to destroy the Olympians?"

He shook his head, "I'm afraid I cannot tell you that, you have to figure it out for yourself. You have all the clues you need just piece them together." He looked dejected,

"It's entirely my fault, this whole mess is my fault and your mother is in danger because of Me." he looked me in the eyes, "Percy you are twice as powerful as your peers and without your vampire agilities you are still more skilled and better equipped. You and Nico together are a formidable force of Nature and it's going to take a lot for you to win this but I know you can do it." He stood up and walked over to a large case.

When he opened it my eyes bulged out of my head and my mouth swung open. "This is a gift, something not included in your original armour because my children are not usually blessed in the skill of archery, the arrows never run out and are poisonous to monsters a graze and they are significantly weakened. They can be killed if they are smaller monsters and they are affected if they are bigger. Use this wisely, the time for battle is nearly upon us and you must get your mother and those two girls out before the final stages of your fight. That is all I can tell you, good luck my boy."

Suddenly I was back in my room; I checked the time, 4.30 a.m. I groaned and lifted myself off the bed then I walked outside to the living room to see Nico and Thalia passed out together on the couch. I raised my eyebrow and called Nico's name, he woke up and noticed Thalia's head on his chest.

I swear if he could blush he would have, "Something happening there?" I questioned as I walked into the other room to get Annabeth

"Um No, I don't think so." I chuckled but it got stuck in my throat when I laid eyes on Annabeth.

I had always known she was pretty fit. I mean she was tall, blond, and slim; she did loads of exercise so she was in good shape. But I had never really viewed her as beautiful but as she lay in bed in a baggy t shirt and shorts which had ridden up, I could appreciate how beautiful she was.

I snapped out of my day dream and called her name softly, "Annabeth, it's time to wake up. We need to finish our quest." She rolled over and groaned softly, "Later Luke, I'm tired and I'm not in the mood."

I froze when I heard her say that then I got angry, very angry. I didn't even understand why I was so angry but it must have been affecting fishes in my fish tank because Nico came inside and wordlessly beckoned me to the site.

What I saw made me calm down almost immediately. The water in the tank was getting agitated and choppy and had even formed a minor whirl pool, "Whoops," I said.

"_Boss, what's the matter, why so angry?" _my fish Alfredo asked me,

"_Yeah boss!" _the rest of the fishes chorused.

"Don't worry guys, personal problems. I'll bring more special fish for you when I get back okay?" I responded. I heard Annabeth come up behind me but I ignored her presence.

"_Yes boss, Cool boss!" _Came the flurry of replies from the fish.

"I didn't know you could talk to fish," she said,

I struggled with myself for one tenth of a second while trying to decide if I should piss her off or just forget the fact that she had admitted her sometimes being forced into sex. I decided to try and be outwardly nice then torture myself on the inside with this, jealousy?

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me Annabeth." Was the reply I settled for and I walked away to return to my thoughts. Why was I jealous? Luke was technically her boyfriend so there was nothing I could do.

I got ready and wore a pair of jeans and a polo shirt with a jacket and normal sneakers and then I went to the kitchen to wait for everyone else so we could plan our attack.

I saw Nico seated at one of the bar seats, "So what are we going to tell them?" I asked,

"I have no idea; we're in deep trouble mate. How do we take on ten vampires without exposing ourselves as vampires ourselves? And what are we going to tell the girls?"

I shook my head, "I really don't know. I don't know if lying to them is the best course of action because to defeat those guys we have to be able to go all out." I sighed loudly, "I spoke to my dad yesterday and he told me that in the final fight Annabeth, Thalia and my mother can't be there."

Nico nodded, "My dad told me the same thing and he gave me this kick as bow as well"

I nodded and started to formulate a plan, once I had told Nico he looked almost as sad as I did.

"When we're done with this plan, there's a high possibility they will never trust us again you do know that?" I nodded agreeing with him.

"But at least they'll be alive, if you have another plan that would make sure they get out of there alive knowing how stubborn they are, please tell me"

He shook his head, "Are you sure this will work though? I mean I've never tried it before."

"You can do it Nico, think of how it would feel if you lost her."

He didn't get a chance to argue with me about what I meant by that because then Thalia and Annabeth walked in.

They just glanced at us and proceeded to look for food. I put two cups of coffee in front of them and waited till they had finished their coffee before I spoke to them about the plan.

"So guys, we need to be out of here in the next thirty minutes if we're going to make it in time. Once we get there, we need to be ready so let's think of a plan now." I looked at Annabeth hoping she would come up with a plan that was in line with Nico and I's plan.

"Okay, so I suggest that after we get passed Ladon, we find your mother and when we do you guys can find a way to protect her or hide her before we have to face whoever it is that is behind all this." She looked me in the eyes, "I had a dream which gave me an idea of who we're dealing with but if you guys have any information please share,"

"It has something to do with my father and my mother. The guy the other day told me I was related to her," I trailed off as I put the pieces together. Of course! I thought, it all makes sense now.

"I know who it is, and I think I know what exactly what the prophecy was referring to as well. I had a couple of dreams before and I didn't understand what they meant but now I've pieced them together. One thing I saw is what happened when Poseidon's wife, Amphitrite, found out about me. She threatened Poseidon and the other Olympians. I think the fact that Poseidon had extra marital affairs really pissed her off. That would also explain the last three lines of the prophecy."

"I also had a dream that she had a large army of monsters at her beck and call." Nico chipped in.

"So we've potentially figured out all the lines of the prophecy except the middle ones, what could they mean?" I knew what one of those lines meant and it didn't look pretty but they couldn't know that.

"Well we don't have the time to really think of that, we have to be on our way now; time to take on an army of monsters." Stated Annabeth,

I didn't know if we should have some sort of ceremony in case our plan failed and none of us made it out alive. I thought of what would happen if Annabeth didn't make it but that thought made me sadder and angrier than I expected. Was I starting to have feelings for Annabeth?


	13. Chapter 13

**May be a bit rubbish, I was rushed for time with this.**

**Thanks for the reviews, leave some more**

**THALIA**

As we made our way to Mount St Helens which was were the entrance to the garden of the Hesperides was, I couldn't help but feel very nervous. Something about this entire scenario wasn't right, they were hiding something. When Annabeth and I entered the kitchen they looked like they were on the verge of some sort of argument but when we were walking towards the kitchen we didn't hear them talking.

I looked at my bracelet and remembered yesterday night when Nico and I were talking.

_**Flashback**_

_We were sitting on the chair after he beat me at FIFA and we were now watching the Avengers. He saw me fiddling with my bracelet and I knew what he was going to ask "Is that where your shield comes from?"_

_I nodded and looked at it again. The pain was still there in the memory, but it didn't physically hurt anymore. I hoped he didn't sense that anything was wrong but he lifted my chin and looked into my eyes. "What happened?" was all he had to say. I didn't usually tell anyone this; actually I never told anyone this but today was an exception. In fact something I seemed to notice was that Nico is always an exception. The only person except Annabeth who knew was Jason and I guess Luke. _

"_This…" I began, "This belongs, well belonged to my mother. I ran away from home when I was seven because my mother was a drunk and a psycho. I met Annabeth soon after and we both made it to camp. Two or three years later I told Chiron that I wanted to go back to check on her, make sure she was okay." Tears came to my eyes as I told him this, "I caught her, on the dining table banging some fucked up dude. She- she tried to throw a bottle at my head and she told me to fuck off. I was so hurt. I ran up the stairs to my room and you would never believe what I found; eight year old Jason sitting in a corner with a bleeding head crying his heart out." I didn't stop the tears had been threatening to spill. _

"_He was seated there in the corner and he looked so skinny and pale like no one ever bothered to feed him. He had bruises everywhere and a fresh gash in his head. It broke my heart Nico, I was so angry and I don't think I have ever been that angry in my entire life. If it wasn't for him, I am more than hundred percent sure that I would have killed my mother that day." I wiped my tear stained cheeks and proceeded to continue the story._

"_He reached out his little bony had and whispered, "Help me". At that point my mother finished up with the guy and their groans filled the house. I knew she'd be here soon so I acted fast; I carried him, took a few of his items and jumped out the window. I was angry enough that I manipulated the winds and got us back to the van safely. I didn't even look back as I told Argus to step on it and get us back to camp." Nico still looked at me intently and nodded for me to finish my story._

"_As you know I was furious with my father. A god, and Zeus for that matter, couldn't protect his own son? What kind of father was he then? When she died, Zeus appeared and told me in person. I didn't feel anything Nico, I didn't even care." My voice slipped into a whisper, "I was happy deep down somewhere, I am a monster who was happy when her mother burned to a crisp in an alcohol fuelled house fire. I gave my father a piece of my mind before he left he dropped the bracelet with me. it belonged to my mother but he enchanted it to hold my shield." _

_My voice remained in a whisper, "I'm a horrible monster, I prayed my mother would go to hell and when she died I was happy." I continued crying and Nico simply wrapped his arms around me and stroked my back. I cried into his chest letting out all the pain from the last ten years out finally._

I guessed we had fallen asleep like that when I woke up and saw him beside me.

I continued remembering the dream I had last night, it seemed very weird but I didn't know what to make of it.

_I stood in a hotel room that over looked a beautiful place, I wasn't sure where it was but I was called to attention by a voice speaking to me, _

"_Darling Thalia you have grown so much! How have you been?" the voice exclaimed._

_I turned round to come face to face with the most beautiful woman I had seen in my entire life. I knew who she was as soon as I set my eyes on her and I bowed deeply, "Lady Aphrodite"_

"_No need for the formalities dear we've known each other way too long." She chided,_

_I smiled a little and nodded, she may be right but the gods have terrible temperaments and I didn't want her to take anything the wrong way._

"_Come Thalia, come and sit down." She gestured over to the sofa she was standing in front of and sat down. I walked over and sat in front of her._

"_Lady Aphrodite, what brings you into my dream?" I asked cautiously. Although she could be quite funny, having gods appear to you during a quest was not usually a good thing._

"_I have been watching your quest ever since I heard the people going on it and to deviate slightly, those two boys are quite spectacular aren't they?" she winked at me._

"_I would have had my eye on them if not for their current situation but tell me, what do you think of them?" she questioned._

_I was confused at her question, "Well I'm friends with both of them and we've had a lot of time to bond over this quest. I'm a lot closer to Nico though but apart from that they're cool." _

_She nodded, "good what have you noticed about their character though?" I thought for a second before I answered,_

"_They're both immensely powerful but not power crazy, they are a great team and care for each other greatly. They are ridiculously generous and caring people, and they are both really funny and fun to hang out with." Aphrodite nodded in approval she seemed satisfied with what I told her but she asked another question that I wasn't sure I could answer,_

"_Are they honest though?"_

_I hesitated, "They have never given me cause to not trust them but they never seem to get injured. In every fight we've had they're always the ones who are hurt or injured in any way."_

_She nodded like she understood what I was going through; she looked in my eyes and spoke again,_

"_Remember this, Nico's fatal flaw is holding grudges and Percy's fatal flaw is Loyalty. Good luck on your quest tomorrow. You will need it." she waved her arm and I was back in apartment beside Nico_

I sat in the car as Percy drove us to the entrance to the garden of the Hesperides that was located somewhere at the base of Mt St Helens and I thought of what Aphrodite said, "Nico's fatal flaw is holding grudges and Percy's is Loyalty"? how would that help me.

The butterflies in my stomach started to go haywire when Mt St Helens came into view. We parked the car a few blocks away and made our way over to the garden.

As we approached the garden I saw puffs of smoke going up into the air and I could only think of one thing, "Ladon". Suddenly from where we were I could see the dragon wrapped around the base of the tree. It was huge! I thought in horror. How were we going to get over to the other side with that thing blocking the way?

"Guys, how do we plan on getting in there alive?"

"Simple, Percy and I distract the dragon while you guys go in." Nico stated as if it was obvious.

I stared at him like he was fucking crazy which he was. "Are you insane? You and kelp brains aren't taking on a hundred head dragon by yourselves."

"Thalia's right, it doesn't make sense you guys could get killed." Annabeth backed me up.

"Unless you guys have a better idea, we're going on with that one and I would rather prefer it if my efforts weren't completely wasted." Percy objected and pressed a button on his wrist band which began to form his full body armour.

Now it was complete with a beautiful blue bow which looked like it was made of some precious gemstone and it was encrusted at the top and bottom by another gem. The arrows were also blue but looked a lot more normal except the tips had this green thing over the celestial bronze.

"How about you actually give us some time to formulate a better plan instead of you guys running to your deaths so eagerly?" Annabeth shot back.

"Sorry Annabeth, it's nearly sun rise and If I'm correct we have about twenty minutes to get you in side or else we have to wait another whole day and Percy's mother is in too much danger for us to do that." Nico spoke, he also had his full armour on and a bow which looked exactly like Percy's, except in black, was included.

I still stood there uncharacteristically worried about Nico and as if he was reading my mind, Nico looked at me and gazed into my eyes, "I won't leave you on purpose ever, I promise."

He looked at Annabeth and I, "I'm going to try and keep you concealed while Percy and I distract big guy over there. We'll meet you on the inside but we'll probably have to talk to the Hesperides first."

I nodded and Annabeth and I started walking very briskly along the side of the garden. Percy and Nico sauntered up to the dragon and stood a couple of feet away before they shot a volley of arrows that actually seemed to hurt the dragon.

Annabeth and I had gotten to the entrance and were relieved when we saw no opposition there. I wonder how on earth the guys were going to make it in here. After approximately fifteen minutes of swearing in so many different languages that I lost count, I heard Ladon scream and then I someone rushed into the cave at high speed and barrel right into me.

He crashed into me and we both went to the floor. I wasn't surprised to find Nico Di Angelo on me laughing his ass off. "I'm really sorry Thalia, this retard Percy decided to confuse the dragon and try to make friends with it."

I raised my eyebrows in shock, "He tried to make friends with a three tonne, hundred headed dragon that has venomous bites?"

Nico got off me and held out his hand for me and chuckled as he nodded his head. When he pulled me up I somehow managed to crash into his chest which caused Annabeth and Percy to erupt in a fit of giggles but the happiness didn't last long.

"Well look what we have here; I'm sure my master will be pleased to see you all." I swung round and saw we were surrounded by about twelve empousa and a few keres. There was one empousa leading them all and I was guessing she was the one who said our names.

Nico and Percy exchanged glances, "We're not going anywhere till I get my mother."

"Who, the human? She's safe for now all you have to do is talk to our boss who has a preposition for you and we will negotiate the freedom of your mother." The she witch smiled sinisterly.

I was about to give a retort but my heart crawled into my throat when Nico smiled devilishly along with Percy and said, "Take us to your 'master'; we want to make his acquaintance."

The woman smiled and told her guards to stand down. I was about to ask Nico what was going on but he gave me a look that said I should shut up.

I didn't like the way this was beginning to look, I tried to talk to Annabeth but the two of them had separated us and so I couldn't talk to her without alerting them.

It didn't take us long to reach the large hollow cavern. In the middle was a large round table with fifteen or so chairs. The woman walked us to the centre beside the table and told us to stand right beside it.

I wanted to shout at Nico and Percy and ask them what the fuck was going on, but suddenly from behind the wall there was the sound of footsteps moving in a synchronised manner. Almost like an army marching into battle.

Out came nine men who slightly resembled the man who we fought at the hotel yesterday, behind them came out another man with jet black hair and sea green eyes who looked disturbingly like Percy; I'm guessing he's triton. Last but not least came Amphitrite, she was beautiful no doubt but I had seen women prettier than her.

I noticed Nico and Percy were smiling slightly and the butterflies in my stomach were beginning to flutter wildly. Something was off about the people sitting down, I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew something was weird.

After a few minutes of silence, Percy stepped up. "My lady," he bowed.

"It's a real pleasure to finally meet you step son," her statement held no love but sounded like she would rather be skinning him alive.

He chuckled and held up his hands in defeat, "Pleasure to finally meet you too and I'm sorry if I seem rude, but I need mom back so I can finish what I came here to do."

"Why, son of Poseidon, should I give you your mother back when she is the woman who my husband slept with to have you." She asked with a nasty sneer

"Because I am willing to do almost anything that you ask to get her back, and so is Nico" Annabeth and I gasped and realised where this was going, we figured that this is what the prophecy was talking about. We were about to be double crossed by two evil bastards. I wanted to get out my spear and skewer them both, but they were wearing their impenetrable armour so that would be point;ess

Amphitrite's face glowed with happiness and the other men across the table smiled as well. "Is that so?" Triton asked.

Nico nodded, "Once we realised who it was we were trying to save, we made sure that we gained the trust of these young women here so we could execute our plan and lead them away from the truth easily. They are the camps best fighters eliminating them will put you at an advantage. And of course we understand the importance of brother hood." Nico winked at the men who chuckled in return.

I glared at him looking so relaxed and at home almost like he knew they wouldn't kill him. Realisation struck and bile rose to my throat, "You good for nothing son of a bitch, I trusted you!" I turned to Percy as well, "How could you betray everyone like this?"

Annabeth looked furious, "Both of you deserve to rot in the fields of punishment and once you die the most miserable deaths possible, you will!"

I couldn't believe it, my heart felt weird. In fact I felt weird all over; I couldn't believe this was happening.

Nico looked at me his eyes hardening, "Both of you should shut the hell up. I am a son of Hades and I have tortures prepared which will kill you slowly and horribly."

"I would rather impale myself than be frightened by you traitor." I sneered back.

He raised his hand to slap me but Percy caught it, "We have an audience, let's finish this conversation then we can deal with them adequately."

Nico smiled sinisterly, "Once I'm done with you you're going to wish you were dead"

He turned his back on me and I felt such a strong urge to kill him. I looked over at Annabeth who looked like she was planning something.

"Back to the matter at hand my lady and brethren, what is the proposition you have for us?" Percy asked in a posh voice. It almost seemed like he was mocking them but that good for nothing bastard had double crossed us.

The leader of the weird men stood up and spoke, "We know what you are and from the way your ex comrades are talking to you it doesn't seem like they know and far be it from us to tell them. I believe you should have the honour of exposing your selves and dealing with them in your own way."

He moved round the table before he continued speaking, "As you know we are planning an uprising to de-throne the Olympians. We have a vast army which lie below the grounds of this cavern as we speak and it consists of thousands of monsters old and new. What we want is two of you to lead our army through the gates of Olympus because of the magnitude of your power; we thought that would be most fitting."

Percy nodded and rubbed his chin as he contemplated the offer, "And in return I get my mother alive and well?" The man nodded and smirked.

I wanted to stab the selfish bastard so bad and Annabeth looked at him with pure hatred but I could also see a hint of something else in her eyes.

Percy finally smiled, "That sounds like a good deal, before I give my obvious answer I need to see my mother."

The vampire man looked back at Amphitrite who nodded her head stiffly. I honestly wonder why she hadn't killed Percy's mother yet if she hater her so much. There was a snapping of fingers and a beautiful woman in a white dress was brought out.

Percy didn't even give a reaction when he saw her; he simply inspected her then nodded. "She looks alive and well but of course I need to make sure she is safe before I decide if I will join you. I swear on the styx that my answer will be declared as soon as my comrade Nico returns from placing our two victims and my mother in a secure location until we have completed our tasks."

Percy smiled brightly at Amphitrite who nodded in response as Nico just glared at Annabeth and I. Suddenly I was in a stone prison again and so was Annabeth, he infused our prisons and waited until Percy's mother had been handed over to him before we disappeared in a flurry of shadows and darkness.

This was it; I was betrayed by someone I opened up to so much. I felt myself being flown in my prison though the coldness of the shadows and screams permeated our surroundings. Almost as quickly as it began everything went quiet and I could now see the light shining through the window.

I looked at Annabeth who had as much hurt and anger in her eyes as I did. I couldn't come to terms with the fact that I had just been betrayed. We were now in a box that was large enough for both of us and I hugged her tightly before I looked over at Nico.

Annabeth and I were surprised to find that he was nowhere in sight. The walls of our "prison" then began to sink into the floor and we were left, standing in the middle of their apartment without anyone guarding us. I was still confused but Annabeth decided to act fast.

"We need to alert Chiron, do you have any spare drachmas?" she shouted as she ran towards the bathroom and got the shower to make a sort of mist so we could iris message Chiron.

"Yeah," I replied as I rummaged frantically through my bag in search of some coins and when I found one I tossed it to her and she caught it nimbly with one hand.

"O Iris, show me Chiron, Camp Half-blood Long Island New York." Annabeth said,

The image shimmered and we were shown Chiron helping the younger archers. "Chiron over here, it's Annabeth and Thalia!" Chiron looked over to us and told his students to take a break before he galloped to a less open area to talk to us

"Children, how is your quest? I hope all is well?" He sounded a bit nervous,

"No Chiron, all is not well. The Princes of the Dead and the Sea have betrayed camp and they are joining Amphitrite's army to try and take over the world" I shouted.

"Oh my, this is not good. Are you sure about this?" Chiron asked.

"Yes Chiron we are," I replied. "We told him a brief summary of what had happened and his eyes held a certain glint to them.

"Okay, I am sending transportation to you now. You should be on your way back to camp very briefly."

"But it's going to take us ages to get back to camp!" I argued,

"Not with this source of transport it's not. We have much planning to do we need to prepare the troops and get ready for war."

I nodded solemnly; war was never good and if there was a way to stop it, we would.

_**Nico**_

Once I had dropped the girls back at the house, I didn't stop before I took Sally to a different location; hotel somewhere in Las Vegas.

I didn't have any time to waste and for the first time since I became a vampire I felt vaguely tired. As we got to the hotel, I hugged Sally briefly and told her I'd explain when I came back.

I returned to the cave and to what may possibly be my death or my triumph.


	14. Chapter 14

_**NICO **_

As I returned I kept a blank look on my face. I walked up to Percy who was in a conversation with one of the vampires and when he saw me he smiled slightly.

"Well my brother has returned, I expect you left some for me?" he smirked,

I smiled evilly, "Of course I did, the blond one is still alive I think. I Broke her arm by mistake though" I cringed inward at the thought of actually hurting Annabeth or killing Thalia.

Percy smiled widely and nodded, "Thank you brother!" he turned to the vampires, "Now back to the matter at hand. I need some people or someone to show us your forces. I want to see what we're playing with here."

Percy was deceptively smart, I admired him for the way he phrased his sentences that somehow had them hooked. I was surprised that neither Amphitrite nor triton had picked up on his games.

The lead vampire sent two of his troops down and told them to escort us. I was pleased and somehow apprehensive that everything was going according to plan; this shouldn't be this easy.

The troops didn't seem to be very wise as they walked before us while Percy and I falsely admired their plan and what they aimed to do. We also falsely insulted the gods while secretly praying they wouldn't smite us.

We got to a sort of clearing before the beginning of another passage and we nodded to indicate this would be the best time to act. Faster than the speed of light, I was behind one vampire and Percy was behind the other and before they even had time to react, their heads were ripped off.

I put them in an earth box with no source of air and burnt their remains to smithereens.

Percy and I hi- fived and stayed around there for a second, hoping they would send more troops to come and find us and get us out.

Another two vampires came in search for us after a couple of minutes and they were ended quickly just like their comrades; five down, five to go.

We walked back to the hall smiling in delight, "The monsters are excellent!" I commented,

The leader seemed puzzled, "Where are the other brothers?"

"We only saw the two you sent to us, and they stayed behind to separate a brawl with the monsters which we regrettably started." I said in a sheepish voice.

The leader didn't seem to believe the story and sent the other two vampires to find them. We had to act fast we were running out of time and quick. I blocked off one of the passages that lead back here hoping it would stop the other two vampires for a while.

Percy smiled and said, "Quite a force you have there, why don't Nico and I display our powers so you also know what resources you have"

The leader seemed satisfied with that and nodded for us to continue. I pressed the button and felt my armour grow.

Percy began talking as he walked round the table, "it is light and it is durable! We should try and get some for the troops too right Bartholomew?"

I nearly snickered, the leaders name is Bartholomew? What a geek.

"Yes but if I may ask; how sharp is that trident on your back?" Bartholomew asked

Percy smiled and winked at me; he picked up his trident and swung it from arm to arm.

"It's very sharp; it can slice through substances as hard as diamond easily. Nico has a staff with switch blades at the end that's just as sharp."

As he said that, I walked closer to where one of the vampires was sitting. "In fact allow us to demonstrate." I finished.

As I did I swung my staff as hard as I could at the direction of the vampire's neck and it loped right off. Percy did the same thing as me at the same time which caused Amphitrite to stifle a shriek and triton to gasp.

The now lifeless vampire's bodies rolled to the floor Bartholomew stood up probably to attack us but the other two vampires broke through the barriers and pointed at us.

"Trai-" one began to shout but was gruesomely interrupted by Percy's trident severing his head from his body.

The second one began to sink into the ground while I jumped over the table in a flash and beheaded him.

Amphitrite and triton had now caught on to what was going on and they seemed like they wanted to attack but they just sat there looking furious.

I looked over at Bartholomew who looked nervous and furious at the same time. "What's got their tails in a twist?" I asked calmly

"You see, the gods are bound by an ancient law, they cannot attack demi gods but can only be attacked first then they can retaliate. Breaking that rule has terrible consequences."

"Oh, well I guess we have to kill you now." Percy said with a smirk.

"I think you'll have to face my troops first, ATTACK!" he screamed.

With that all hell broke loose, troops poured in from everywhere; hydras, drakons and even the Minotaur. They all attacked from all the edges and soon we were literally being overrun by monsters.

I dodged slashed and rolled faster than ever before but it still wasn't fast enough. I received a few hits from the Minotaur and some poison from the drakon actually touched me. I knew if I got any fire on me I was screwed.

I looked over at Percy who was in as bad a state as I was, his armour was in bad shape and his hair was tinged. The hydra suddenly shot a column of fire at us and I had a wall protecting us before it could burn us to smithereens.

I got up and immediately fired seven arrows at the hydra, Percy too fired seven and before we knew it, the beast disintegrated before our eyes.

We were still fighting hard when an idea came into my head. I was losing power and the fighting was starting to tire me.

"Percy," I dodged an arrow and decapitated another two monsters, "We can't do this much longer!" I groaned as I sustained a hit to the head from a club and stabbed another monster.

"Don't you think I know that!" he dodged something and skewered three monsters with his sword.

"On three, stab your trident into the ground with everything and call upon the water! I'm going to try and open a chasm to the underworld so you have to keep us up!" he grunted which I took as his response.

"One," I grunted and maimed three creatures.

"Two," I threw my sword which went through at least fifteen monsters.

"Three!" I grabbed my staff and sunk it into the floor. I felt the power leave me and transfer through my staff and suddenly the floor cracked open and all the monsters fell through.

Just before I could pass through as well I felt myself being lifted by water. I looked over at Percy who looked completely rejuvenated just by being in the water while I still looked like crap.

Once everything had cleared I closed the chasm and noticed Bartholomew was not present either.

"Very well done demigods," Amphitrite spat at us

"You didn't have to do this you know." I looked at her feeling almost completely drained.

"I did! Poseidon cheated on me again do you not understand how much it hurts? She screeched

"Yes I agree with her, the gods have ruled for way too long and they incinerated my entire race. Only I remained, so when Amphitrite and I stumbled over each other we made a pact and decided to try and de throne the gods!" Bartholomew who had suddenly reappeared said.

"Poseidon didn't mean to, he's a god he fell in Love by mistake." Percy tried to reason with her.

"No! He broke his oath and he betrayed me after he promised never to do so again!" do you know how that made me feel!" she got up and began to shimmer, "I promised to make him pay and make him pay I will. I won't kill his darling slut but the death of his pride and joy will hurt his slut and him!"

She looked a bit manic as she said that and I wasn't looking forward to what was about to happen.

Everything that happened next happened so fast. Triton blasted me off the water floor Percy and I were still standing on and I landed painfully on the floor. Before I knew it Bartholomew was on me but suddenly he was ripped off me and he spontaneously combusted.

I looked back to see Percy being blasted by Amphitrite and he subsequently landed under a pile of rocks. She said something but before she could finish him off, Poseidon appeared in front of his unmoving figure.

Amphitrite's eyes widened before they became slits, she began shouting obscene things at Poseidon and it was then I looked over to my side and noticed my father standing beside me shaking his head.

She blasted Poseidon who looked absolutely livid before he attacked her in return. She flew to the other side of the cavern and crashed into it. When she landed I saw golden ichor flowing out of her body at various places.

"Father, what is going on?" I managed to croak out.

"It will be explained to you later but for now we must bow to the fates" he responded

I was confused for a second before I looked to see three old women, one held a pair of scissors and another held a ball of yarn; I gasped and bowed quickly.

"The ancient law has been broken here and the consequence is an eternity in Tartarus." The fates all declared at the same time. "Death, come forth and place your victims in their prison."

There was a glow and suddenly Amphitrite and triton were gone.

_**Annabeth**_

I was surprised when the "mode of transportation" Chiron was talking about turned out to be centaurs.

"We're here to pick up Miss Annabeth Chase and Thalia Grace?" one of the centaurs said,

"Um, here?" I said in a question form for some reason.

"Well hop on, we have at least four hours of journey ahead of us."

"Yes sir" I didn't hesitate any more before I got on his back and we galloped off towards camp.

The entire journey was pretty uneventful but still spectacular. I knew centaurs could seriously bend distance when they ran, but being on one's back while it travelled was amazing. You didn't feel like you were going any faster, but if you looked around you, it felt like you were going through some sort of portal.

We stopped after about two hours so the centaurs could rest up and have something to drink, and we could use the bathroom. I was happy to find out that we were already half way through the entire journey.

Once we were on our way again, I started thinking about the events of today. It hurt a lot when Percy decided to betray me. I was confused because his betrayal hurt much more than Luke's betrayal.

This time it felt like someone took a blade of smouldering iron and stabbed me deep in the chest with it and then continuously rotated it.

I didn't let any of the tears which had welled up inside my eyes fall down. I wouldn't cry because I was stronger than that.

Relief flooded me as we passed through the camp's boundaries and rode up to the big house. I ran straight in to look for Chiron so we could alert the rest of the camp and prepare for battle.

I ran up the steps to the big house and passed through the different doors to reach his office. "Chiron we're here, let's call a war council we don't have much time" I said as soon as I was inside his office.

I noticed that he looked strangely calm for someone who's camp was about to be under attack. He sighed and rolled his wheel chair away from the back of the desk. "Girls there is no war, the threat has been averted."

I was stunned for a second, "Have those traitorous bastards been killed?" Thalia asked.

"Are they really traitorous? Think about it why are you alive and free if they didn't want you to be?" he pressed.

"Because they made a stupid mistake or he didn't know his powers didn't work at such far range. I don't know!" I shouted back.

"Think child, analyse the situation you are a child of Athena what do you think?" Chiron said in an exasperated tone.

Before I had a chance to reply, there was a bright flash and before me stood an attractive man about mid-twenties, holding a cell phone that had antennae with snakes crawling around them. He wore jeans and a normal button up shirt and had salt and pepper blond hair.

It wasn't rocket science figuring out who this was. I bowed to him and spoke, "Lord Hermes, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"You are being summoned to Olympus, hold on to me and close your eyes." he said in a cheerful tone.

I did what he said and raised an eyebrow at Thalia. She shrugged understanding what I was asking and mirrored my movements.

One second we were in Chiron's office and the next we were standing on Olympus in the middle of thirteen Olympian Gods. I noticed Hades was seated beside Poseidon on a black throne.

This wasn't my first time on Olympus, each year the camp visited Olympus during the winter solstice so this would be my twelfth time here.

I bowed to Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, my mother and then the rest of the Olympians. Thalia did the same thing as me but she didn't start with my mother specifically, she just bowed to everyone.

"Annabeth Chase Daughter of Athena, you have been part of a very important quest which was crucial to ensuring Olympus did not fall. I am not sure you yourself understand the gravity of the part you played. Same goes for you Thalia Grace, my very own child." Zeus boomed.

I was confused, "But Olympus was betrayed by the Sons of Poseidon and Hades."

Zeus raised an eyebrow and glanced at his brothers. "How is that so if the enemy was completely decimated?"

I was too stunned, what did this mean? "I-I don't know" I stammered.

"A child of Athena who doesn't know now that's something I have been waiting for." Apollo snickered, Athena shot him a withering glare and he shut up.

"Zeus they are ready, it is time for them to swear their allegiance to you ahead of the ceremony tonight." Poseidon interrupted.

Zeus nodded and turned back to us, "Your rewards will be given to you shortly, please take a seat." He waved a seat for Thalia at the base of his throne, and one for me at the base of Athena's throne.

"Enter Percy Jackson Son of Poseidon, Prince of the Seas and Hero of Olympus. Enter Nicolas Di Angelo Son of Hades, Prince of the Underworld and Hero of Olympus!" Zeus boomed. The doors opened and my heart stopped.

My mouth dropped to the floor and then my heart went into double time. I saw Aphrodite's smile widen from the side of my eye but I ignored it. This was not normal behaviour for me but all I could think when I saw him was _beautiful, hot and damn sexy. _

He wore a classic Doric chiton with gladiator sandals which reached half of his calf. His unruly hair looked less unruly than it usually was but his face was stoic, serene and oddly godlike. He seemed to notice my presence because he looked at me and looked straight into my eyes.

I was mesmerised, his eyes were more vibrant than usual and they seemed brighter than they usually did. We had to cut off eye contact as he reached Poseidon's throne and bowed and then he reached the front of Zeus's throne and waited for Nico to stand beside him before they both knelt before the throne.

"Percy Jackson and Nico Di Angelo, you are abominations on this earth and you possess the strength, speed or skill only inferior to the gods. You are a liability and should therefore be killed." I gasped quietly in my seat.

"Fortunately, it was voted that you are given the chance to ascend to your titles in a few years' time mostly because of your fatal flaws. However you must swear allegiance to me and the council of the gods. Repeat after me, "I Percy Jackson or Nico Di Angelo, swear on the four rivers of the underworld especially the Styx, never to betray the Olympians or be a part of any dethroning schemes devised by enemies of Zeus or Olympus."

Percy and Nico recited the lines and once they finished there was a rumble of thunder and then the Olympians cheered. "This council is now dismissed; Children you may go back to camp now the ceremony has been postponed till tomorrow, there Annabeth and Thalia will be awarded for their bravery." Zeus proclaimed before he left the room.

We all bowed to our parents and soon we were alone in the throne room. The silence was charged with tension and awkwardness and I didn't know how to start but apparently Thalia did.

"What are you, why did Zeus call you an abomination?" she demanded.

Nico and Percy sighed and looked down, "We're vampires." I felt the world stop for a second before it started moving again.

"Cut the crap Jackson and be serious." I glared at them,

"Annabeth, it's difficult to accept but it's true, that is what we are. I was bitten before I came to camp half-blood in fact before I even knew I was a half blood."

"Prove it," I challenged. He nodded and then ran to the other side of the room so fast I couldn't follow his movements. Then he leaped from there all the way to where I was standing.

Suddenly everything clicked into place and I understood every single thing. It was kind of like epiphany but I had subconsciously been analysing the events of the day and everything suddenly made sense.

"You guys lied to us; you told us one plan when you already had another." I fumed,

"Yes we did but it was the only way we could carry out the plan without you getting hurt all those men in the round table were vampires. If we looked away from you guys for even a second, they would have murdered you." Percy tried to reason with me but I was just too angry.

"You could have at least told us you bastards instead of lying to us and making us think the entire camp was doomed because of you psycho's!" Thalia screamed.

"You know what, stay away from us. I don't want you fang faced creeps around us anymore in case you suddenly decide to feed of us and don't tell us first!" I ran away back towards camp. I was relieved when I realised they weren't following us and I was even more relieved when I saw Argus waiting for us at the base of the empire state building.

When we got to camp, we explained everything to Chiron and had a special dinner to celebrate the success of the quest but Nico and Percy didn't come back. I almost felt bad about what I said but I was still angry at them for lying to me. I endured the questions from the campers who had the guts to ask where Nico and Percy were but by the time we were getting ready to go for the bonfire in the amphitheatre I was fed up.

I sat by Thalia at the top edge where no one would see us and we just sat there in silence not saying anything. At the end of the camp fire, there was a flash of light and there stood Hermes.

"Greetings Camp – Half Blood and my own children, I am here to give an invitation to all cabin leaders and their deputies for the proclamation ceremony of Percy Jackson and Nico Di Angelo. Attendance is not compulsory but replacements should be chosen. Have a good night and may the gods be with you!" and with that he erupted in a column of smoke.

"I'm not going for that," I scoffed, Thalia remained silent. I looked at her and she had her lips pursed like she was thinking about something. "Are you thinking of going?" I asked her with my eyebrow raised.

She nodded silently, "Nico told me something after I told him about my mother, almost like he was sure I would be angry after this. "He told me about his life, he's older than he looks. He told me about how he lost his mother and sister and then he told me that if he could have sacrificed himself, even if it meant lying to them and making them hate him, he would have done it. I told him I would have done the exact same thing.

I looked at her and she continued talking, "I understand what he did, what he's been doing this whole time and although I'm angry he lied to me, I think I am going to forgive him."

When I didn't answer anything she said, she sighed and told me good night before heading to her cabin. I went to the beach instead of going back to my cabin and I put on my invisibility cap so the harpy's wouldn't bother me. I sat there thinking about everything and I must have fallen asleep there because the next morning I was in my bed with a note beside me in neat writing that said, _I'm sorry._ I threw the note in the trash can beside my bed and took a long shower. Once I was done I grabbed a quick breakfast and I trained in the arena for the rest of the day.

I wasn't really in the mood to talk to Thalia but I wasn't angry at her. I was just in a very weird mood, I had been day dreaming of being with Percy in more ways than one and it was beginning to bug me a lot. I waved at Thalia lightly as she left for Olympus.

I sat on the beach alone still thinking of Percy and arguing with myself about whether or not I liked him. "You're supposed to be on Olympus you know, Zeus thought he made it clear yesterday that your presence was compulsory." A voice came from nowhere. I whipped around and unsheathed my knife. Suddenly Percy emerged from the water completely dry and walked over to me. My heart was in my throat as I took in his look. If it was possible, and I highly doubt it, he looked even better than yesterday. He wore a navy blue cape over his coral blue chiton and a gem encrusted belt.

"Shouldn't you be at your ceremony?" I asked my voice sounded less sure than I wanted it to.

"You have a part to play too and I came to apologise again." He said as he glanced at the ground,

"I don't want your apology just leave me alone, I'll get Chiron to give me a ride to Olympus." I started to turn away and I ran away from him. However this time it didn't seem like he was going to let me go because he grabbed my arm, effectively stopping me, pulled me closer to him and looked into my eyes, "I'm not letting you get away this time Annabeth," and then he kissed me.


	15. Chapter 15

**This is a bit like a filler just to explain the situation further.**

**Enjoy. Review.**

**ANNABETH**

I'd like to say I pushed him away immediately and stormed off angrily but the truth is I was shocked for a millisecond then my brain spontaneously combusted. Actually it wasn't just my brain, my entire body exploded just from the feel of his lips on mine.

We broke apart and I stood there with wobbly knees just staring at him. I was pretty sure my eyes were glazed over and I don't think my body wanted anything more than to be back in his arms. So I did the most sensible thing my mind could muster in its current state of disarray, I ran back to my cabin.

**PERCY**

I watched her as she ran off, her balance was off and she tripped once and nearly fell. I just stood there unsure of what to do now. I could run after her and make her forgive me or I could just go back to Olympus and be on my best behaviour.

Today had been a stressful day to say the least. Since after the fates took Amphitrite and Triton to Tartarus, so much had happened in the last 24 hours that I'm sure my extraordinary brain was ready to explode.

_*Flashback*_

"_Three!" Nico shouted. I had to concentrate and summon all the water possible. I felt a gut wrenching tug in the pit of my stomach and suddenly I was surrounded by water. I thought I was going to collapse from the effort but of course the water healed me._

_I tried to reason with Amphitrite as I kept up the water flow ensuring Nico didn't fall to the ground. He looked exhausted but I am guessing that's because opening a chasm that leads all the way to Tartarus can't be easy._

_As Amphitrite blasted me with her weapon, the blow hit me right in the pit of my stomach, I think I felt that part of my skin crack or split or something but it hurt like hell. I crashed into a pile of rocks and blacked out. _

_When I woke up, I was in a cot without a shirt. I could hear loud arguing in the room beside me and I winced as I picked up a few words that were being used. "They're arguing about whether or not they're going to destroy us" Nico said from beside me._

_He sat there on his phone and I looked at my stomach. There was a weird line that looked a lot like a ceramic pot had a crack on it. "What happened?" I asked,_

"_Well after you were blasted off your water fort thing by Amphitrite, you crashed into a pile of rocks then went unconscious. Before Amphitrite could murder your sorry arse you're your dad appeared and blasted her to oblivion. Then the fates came and took her and her no good son to Tartarus something about breaking an ancient rule that immortals cannot attack demi gods without provocation," He stood up and walked around the table as he continued the story, _

"_That's why our fathers appeared. Once we were attacked some weird force of magic was broken and they were allowed to interfere. Because of the "severity of your injuries we were brought to Olympus where Apollo's services were rendered. He healed us then realised there was something weird then Zeus felt us "abominations" and stormed in." Nico frowned slightly as he remembered something,_

"_He tried to have us killed immediately but Poseidon and Hades stopped him by telling him we just saved Olympus. Zeus argued some more that there was no real threat but then Hades and Poseidon rationalised that the vamps would have killed all our half-bloods which included Thalia and left us wide open for attacks from other enemies while we were weak." Nico sighed then continued with the story, _

"_At that point Zeus called a council meeting and there was more arguing which is where we are right now." Nico just sat down and watched me take it all in._

_I chuckled lightly, "Well if I'm going to be killed at least I should be killed while I'm fully clothes," I said gesturing to the fact that I was in ripped jeans and nothing else._

_Nico rolled his eyes and pointed to the duffel bag behind him, "I went back amidst all the arguing and got some clothes." He explained when he saw my confused look._

_As I finished putting my shirt and jacket on, Hermes walked in and smiled at me, "I see you're feeling better now! Well, the Olympians request your presence while they give their verdict and don't worry I that vote we don't kill you."_

_I smiled weakly at the comment that was supposed to make me feel better and walked out behind him. We walked right into the middle of the council meeting and there were two seats prepared for us. We bowed to the god's then took our seats._

"_Here are the abominations of Poseidon and Hades they just returned from a successful quest and stopped an army of monsters whose target was Olympus. However they are exceptionally powerful because they have a mix of vampire venom infested human blood and divine blood. They can be used as a powerful weapon for and against Olympus but are a loose end which can easily be turned against us." At that point Poseidon interrupted Zeus's rant,_

"_Easily? My child's fatal flaw is Loyalty which means he would die to protect his friends and his best friends fatal flaw is holding grudges, kill anyone he loves and you will have a lifelong enemy! How hard do you think it will be to turn them against Olympus?" Poseidon shouted._

"_Well they could be used as a weapon to dethrone me!" Zeus argued back._

"_Get over yourself brother, how many times will we tell you we do not plan on dethroning you? We swore allegiance to you at the beginning of this century have you forgotten so soon?" Hades said in an exasperated but calm voice. _

"_Why do we argue? Let us take it to the council to vote." Zeus declared, "all in favour of killing these boys?" I looked around at the hands which were being raised, Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Ares, Artemis and Athena raised their hands. None of those hugely surprised me except Athena, I had saved her daughter's life countless times and she still decided she wanted me dead? _

_Nico seemed to notice my raised eyebrow at Athena's had then he whispered, "Athena hates Poseidon and I'm guessing his children too." My mouth made a big "O" as I understood her reasoning, albeit a bit childish, but I still understood. _

_Zeus seemed irritated as he nodded, "Those in favour of keeping them alive?" Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, Hermes, Hephaestus and Aphrodite raised their hands. Zeus looked around then looked at Dionysus, "Dionysus why do you abstain?"_

_Dionysus looked at Zeus like it was obvious, "Why should I vote to have them killed, they have done nothing wrong so far except for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. But they could be corrupted even though it is highly unlikely I don't want to regret my decision so I am abstaining."_

"_Well I always get the tie breaker vote so I vote they be killed," Zeus announced with a smirk. _

_I rolled my eyes and looked at Nico, "Childish much" he murmured to me, and I nodded my head in agreement. I looked at my long time brother and partner and spoke the gravity of the situation finally weighing me down, "Well it was nice fighting with you I just wish I didn't have so much unfinished business." I said thinking of Annabeth and I was quite sure he understood what I meant when he looked at me sadly and said, "Me too." _

_Aphrodite sobbed quietly to the side and a few of the gods gave her weird looks. I shook hands with Nico waiting to be destroyed when there was a bright light and there stood the fates._

"_They are Chosen ones or do you forget so quickly? They are protected by ancient laws and should not be killed on such speculative grounds. Kill them and you will regret it."_

_They disappeared as soon as they were done and I broke into a wide smile. I looked at my father and Hades who also wore wide smiles and I almost had the urge to stick my tongue out at that ungrateful bitch called Athena. I noticed that she scowled as soon as I thought that and smirked inwardly. Aphrodite had broken into an elated smile and she winked at me. I froze in horror thinking the worst and Nico just laughed at me._

_Zeus seemed angry but he sighed in resignation and called the room to order by pounding his fist. "They must swear their allegiance today and they will be on Olympus till the ritual has been performed." _

_Aphrodite nodded, "Yes and since they are eighteen they must have their official proclamation ceremony which will be held tomorrow. And let us not forget the female heroes who contributed to this quest, they should be rewarded."_

_I looked at my father in confusion and he mouthed, "Later." _

_Zeus nodded reluctantly, "The matter has been put to rest and the council is not adjourned!" _

_With that most of the god's zapped out and went off to do their various duties. The only people who remained were my father, Hades and Aphrodite. _

"_What exactly is the "proclamation ceremony" and why is swearing allegiance such a big deal?" Nico asked._

_Aphrodite spoke, "The Proclamation ceremony is where you formally accept your position. It happens when the chosen ones reach the age of eighteen and you are formally introduced to all of Olympus. There is a list of things you have to do to complete the ceremony and I will be briefing you on that once your fathers are done speaking to you." She smiled at Poseidon and Hades, "Lord Poseidon and Lord Hades, if you would please send them to my quarters so that I can explain both ceremonies to them and fully prepare them I would be most grateful." She bowed lightly then winked at us and disappeared._

"_Well children, I am happy to say you are safe for now!" Poseidon boomed,_

"_Why does swearing allegiance have to be a big deal, I still don't get it" Nico whined._

"_Because boy, it is a wholly binding agreement break it and you will endure a horrid punishment. And Zeus just loves everything to be formalised and posh" Hades replied with a slight smirk._

_We laughed lightly at that and then Poseidon reached out to touch my shoulder, "Well done Percy. Now you have to endure Aphrodite's tortures, enjoy!" suddenly I found myself in a large dressing room alone but a few seconds later Nico appeared in a puff of smoke."_

"_I have a feeling we aren't going to enjoy this very much" I groaned._

"_The only way you won't enjoy it is if you don't open your mind to it!" Aphrodite's musical voice came. "I'm just going to prep you for the allegiance thing, and then I'll tell you the process for tomorrow's party." She said cheerfully as she entered the room. When I looked at her I was a bit surprised. She was no longer in a dress but she now looked like she was going to the office. She wore a dark grey pencil skirt and a blue button up shirt, her hair was in a bun to the side and her glasses sat gracefully on the bridge of her nose._

_As usual she looked absolutely stunning and completely flawless. She smiled at me as if she knew what I was thinking then she waved her hand a clipboard appeared in her hand. She looked at something on it and spoke to herself as she corrected mistakes on the board. _

_When she was done fussing with it, she looked at us and said "Follow me right this way please." I walked a safe distance behind her because if I walked to close to her, her perfume made me think very ungentle manly things about a certain person. _

_We entered a huge pink room and I groaned involuntarily at the sight before me. It was like we had enters Barbie's closet. "Okay now, the allegiance ceremony is easy, I just have to make sure you are dressed in traditional Greek attire, but for tomorrow you have to act a certain way and do certain things." She looked down at her list and began to talk_

"_First you have to be formally introduced; you'll walk down the stairs in your royal attire. Next you'll bow to the gods and then proclaim your acceptance of your position. Next will be the awards for the girls. And then you will have to dance with a lady of your choice in the Prince's showcase, and then you'll be crowned. Once that's done, you'll drink a special glass of Nectar that causes you to start growing into your full powers. Although you won't grow physically, your powers will become stronger than they are over the next three years and so will your distinctive attributes. After that it's party time!" _

_Aphrodite did a little shimmy as she walked over to face the long dark corridor. She continued to walk down it, and as she did the lights switched on. She stopped in front of a section and pulled open the doors. She inspected the contents of the cupboard before she grabbed to clothes bags and then two shoe boxes and placed them on an invisible surface. _

_I was slightly surprised when they followed her as she moved down a section and pulled out another two bags and shoe boxes and four jewellery boxes._

_Once she was done she seemed proud of her self and she began to walk towards us causing the lights to switch off as she made her way back. She picked up the first two clothes bags and handed them to us. "These are your outfits for the swearing in put them on." _

_I thought she would turn away or leave or something, but she just stood there waiting for us which made me feel a bit embarrassed. I was sure if I was still human I would be the colour of beetroot._

_I removed the material from the bag and my eyes widened slightly. It was a beautiful navy blue material and it looked like it would reach around my knees. I scrunched my nose slightly when I realised I would have to wear a dress and I looked up to argue with Aphrodite before she spoke again, "Go on change and no, there is nothing I do to change the outfit."_

_The way she spoke made me eager to do exactly what she said but I blinked twice and looked at her. She seemed surprised but comment. I slowly changed into the attire, a little self-conscious about the fact that I was changing in front of the goddess of Love. Aphrodite didn't seem to care though because once I had changed, she beamed widely and looked at Nico and me._

"_You both look marvellous! All that's left is to brush your hair slightly Percy and you'll be ready to go." She bounced up and reached for my hair and I reflexively recoiled but she just pulled me to her. I'm guessing a comb magically appeared in her hand because I felt something rake through my scalp a few times before she let me go._

_Once she was done making sure that we looked suitable, she transported us to the door of the council room and then she disappeared to take her seat. Soon the doors opened and we entered, walking and looking just like Aphrodite instructed us to. _

_I heard a heart rate speed up manically and I looked to the direction of the sound; it was Annabeth. All the thoughts running through my head were indecipherable and I kept my gaze on her even as I walked up to the big three. _

_Our eyes only left each other when I had to bow to my father and his brothers. Throughout the entire ceremony, I was thinking about one thing, Annabeth. I knew she would be furious when we explained everything to her and if I said I was surprised when she left in anger after we told them the truth, I would be lying._

_What did surprise me was the intensity of my feelings. I was in absolute agony and I felt like I needed to kill something or someone including myself. I knew what I was feeling was a bit irrational but it was starting to overwhelm me. _

"_Nico what is going on with me?" I asked in a strained voice, "I feel like my emotions just took a hit from a freight train."_

_Nico didn't look like he could talk, he just nodded his head and mouthed, "me too". _

_We both decided to lie down on the floor in the council room and stare up at the ceiling. "That hurt way more than I thought it would." I spoke,_

"_That is too true mate"_

"_We need to have a chat Nico, tell me the truth alright?"_

"_I never lie to you Percy,"_

"_Do you like her?" he knew who I was referring to so I didn't need to explain any further,_

"_Percy, we're vampires. Everything we have is enhanced; out looks, speed, strength, agility and et cetera. I think our emotions are enhanced as well. As a result, I don't think we can really do like. I think it's pretty much Hate, indifference and Love. You can guess with her it's not hate or indifference." He finished bitterly._

"_I feel the exact same way" I stood up and brushed my jeans off. "Let's go and explore Olympus."_

_After a few hours of exploration, we noticed it was getting dark and apparently the party was just starting. We saw many women, we couldn't differentiate between the goddesses and the nymphs, as they strolled out of their houses laughing merrily and drinking from embellished glasses._

_Music filled the streets and beautiful lights decorated the trees, everything was so jovial and festive. Nico and I couldn't find it in ourselves to be happy. We walked along the streets towards my father's castle on Olympus. "This is just depressing" Nico mumbled. _

"_I completely agree, I need to see her." I told Nico. He looked at me and nodded, "Hold on tight." He commanded. I grabbed on to his arm and allowed myself to be pulled into the shadows. We landed at the beach and I could smell her even if I couldn't see her. _

_I listened for the sound of her breathing and I was surprised to find that it was soft and steady. "She's asleep" I told Nico. He rolled his eyes, "What a shock, it's nearly three in the morning you nutter" _

"_Oh, piss of would you?" I replied as I scooped Annabeth into my arms and carried her to her cabin. I took her cap off and brushed her hair out of her face lightly. She is so beautiful, I thought. I swear I could feel my heart expanding in its inactive state. _

_I placed her lightly in her bed and then I grabbed a piece of paper from her messy bed. I wrote her a note of two words and I escaped to look for Nico. _

_We both sat in the middle of camp and I looked at him, "So what now?"_

"_Well I'm going to visit my father; you should probably do the same." He said kicking a small rock across the field._

_I shrugged, "I guess so, have a good time in hell." He laughed as he dissolved into the shadows, "Cheers!" he shouted as he disappeared._

_I stood up and walked to the beach. I didn't stop when I reached the bank I just kept walking till I was completely submerged in the water. I wasn't really sure how to get to Atlantis so I just prayed to my father. A few minutes later a huge sea horse appeared and spoke into my head. "Hey boss! I'm Goldie and I'm going to be your new ride, hop on!" I smiled and thanked the horse as I got onto the saddle and held the reins. _

_Goldie was fast, we swam through the waters so quickly I was sure I would explode but apparently, being a creature of the sea prevents those kinds of things from happening. _

_We swam through the city gates and I was astounded. It reminded me of Olympus, except under the sea. We reached the main gates of the palace and the guards immediately bowed to Goldie and I then gave us passage._

_I saw my father at the doors of the palace and he seemed a bit sad, "Welcome to Atlantis Percy, this is your home away from home." I smiled at my father, "Thanks dad." _

_He nodded and raised an eyebrow as I yawned, "I think I'll show you to your room, why don't we continue this tour when you wake up?"_

"_That sounds good to me," I said through another wide yawn._

_Once I woke up a couple of hours later, I was taken on a tour of Atlantis by Poseidon. He showed me the city and his palace and needless to say I was impressed. _

_The tour took us right up to the point when Aphrodite requested my presence in order to prep me for the ceremony this night. I think it was obvious from my expression I was not looking forward to it. _

_My father however just laughed at me and transported me into her clutches. I heard her squeal when I appeared and she beamed, "Percy you're right on time! Now let us begin."_

"_There are only a few things to know during this ceremony…" Aphrodite started and after she did I zoned out but my brain was good at multi-tasking so I was absorbing everything she said._

_She prepped us and preened us so we looked like "royalty" and then suddenly it was time for us to stand at the base of the stairs awaiting our summons. _

_While I was walking down the stairs, I could hear the general opinion of all the women there and it made me blush in my head. But outwardly my face and stature were poised and "perfect" which is how Aphrodite described it to us. _

_I scanned the crowd for any sign of her. When I saw Thalia I was disappointed to find Annabeth was nowhere in sight. However I walked over to her with Nico so I could give him moral support. "Thalia," I nodded, "Percy," she nodded back and gave a small smile. I was extremely relieved she had decided to forgive me and I smiled properly and gave her a hug. Nico however was still staring at her. _

_I nudged him subtly to break him out of his trance then I excused myself. I stood talking to the Stoll's and Beckendorf for a couple of minutes, giving the details of my quest. I noticed Aphrodite and my father approaching me, Aphrodite looking quite annoyed. "Perseus, where is Annabeth?" she asked._

"_I haven't seen her but I assume she is back at camp." I said as my eyebrow rose in surprise._

"_You have to go and get her; the award ceremony is scheduled to start soon so she has to be here. Poseidon will transport you to and fro." Aphrodite commanded. Poseidon chuckled and waved his hand and there I was standing on the beach looking at her."_

_*End of very Long flashback*_

I sprinted through camp and was in Annabeth's cabin before anyone could see me. She sat alone on her bed brushing her hair. "I have to take you back, they are expecting you in the next four minutes or Aphrodite will be very unhappy."

She flinched because she hadn't realised I was there. She stood up to face me and I noticed she was in a grey Greek style dress. My breath caught in my throat and I had to look away to stop myself from staring. "I'll wait for you by the lake." I managed to get out before I sprinted out of the cabin.

I knew I shouldn't have kissed her, I just successfully jeopardized our friendship and now it was so obvious she hated me. I heard her footsteps from afar and soon she came into my line of vision. She looked even more beautiful than she had in her cabin. She wore light make up and red lipstick, he hair was up in a messy bun and tendrils fell all over her face. Her dress I noticed had a slight train and was shorter in the front then descended into the train in the front. Her legs looked beautiful and long in the beautiful heels she was wearing.

I wordlessly held out my hand for her and she took it without comment as we walked into the water. I made sure she didn't get a drop of water on her by putting her in an air bubble that I didn't stay in.

Soon I felt the powers of my fathers at work and we were in the middle of a whirlpool. In a few seconds I found myself at the doors of the party venue. I dropped my hand then proceeded to open the doors for her.

All eyes were on us as we walked, side by side, into the venue. I heard the general gist of conversations by the guys but all it did was anger me, a lot. Once we were in I steered her far away from those perverts and over to Thalia and Nico who were having a good time.

Thalia smiled widely as she noticed Annabeth, "Hey Annie Beth you look absolutely amazing!" Annabeth blushed then grabbed Thalia's arm and pulled her away.

I looked back at Nico, "So what did I miss?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We didn't kiss if that's what you're asking, but we did have a moment and I'm hoping it gets there eventually. For now, we're just friends."

"And you are satisfied with that?"

He looked at me like I was mad, "Of course not, but what am I going to do? I can't force her into anything, she'd gut me!" I raised an eyebrow, "Well she'd try" he mumbled.

I laughed, and then I heard Zeus call us all to attention, "Brothers, sisters, sons and daughters! Today we are gathered to celebrate a royal rite of passage and to give gifts to those who have accomplished much." He looked around the room making eye contact, "Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and Thalia Grace, my own daughter.

People clapped and the sea of people between Thalia and Annabeth, and Zeus parted. The spotlight shone on them as they walked forward but I have no idea where it came from since there was no lighting rig visible.

They both bowed to Zeus as they stood before him. Athena strode forward and addressed Annabeth, "For you Annabeth, my own daughter, I award you for your bravery and skill with this Laptop. It possesses all the incomplete ideas of one of my most brilliant children, Daedalus. I know you wish to become an architect so use it wisely." Annabeth looked overwhelmed and close to collapsing on the spot from shock.

"For you Thalia Grace, my daughter, I give you a powerful weapon enchanted to turn into a spear and a sword. Use it wisely, for it is very powerful." Zeus boomed as he handed Thalia a beautiful white hair clip. Thalia's face broke out in a wide smile and she bowed to her father.

Zeus smiled and made another announcement, "Now it is time for the Prince's dance! Boys pick your partner and proceed to the middle of the room."

I didn't have anyone who I wanted to share this dance with other than Annabeth who stood clutching her gift and looking at me. I walked up to her and held out my hand. She looked down for a few seconds then up, back at me. I silently pleaded with my eyes hoping she would understand and accept my request.

She hesitated for a second then passed her gift to someone beside her, who I failed to see, and she placed her hand in mine. I held it tightly as I pulled her through the crowd of people situated around the tables and to the centre floor which was now being cleared of people. I had to wait on one side till everyone was off the floor, while Nico stood with Thalia at the other side.

The song came on and the lights dimmed, only the floor lights which marked the circle we were in and the large chandelier lighted the room. I took Annabeth placed my hand on her waist and pulled her closer to me. She took my lead and put her hand on my shoulder then I bowed slightly and began to waltz.

Aphrodite had spent about an hour teaching us how to waltz then another thirty minutes making us watch videos of people waltzing. Now we were putting her teaching to use but as I lead and Annabeth effortlessly followed, I wondered where she learned from.

The entire time we danced one part of my brain focused on not dancing into a table, another part focused on what I was actually doing. Another part focused on the crowd and the last, but the biggest part of my brain focused on Annabeth. I stared into her shining grey eyes and I tried not to bring her any closer to me than she was because then we wouldn't be able to dance properly.

I studied her face and I couldn't find a flaw. My yearning for her increased with every twirl, every spin, every dip and my body sang for her as it danced with her. I was on a high and I felt like my body was transferring an electric current around through her and back to me. The feeling continued to build up and I thought I was going to explode; I needed to run, to be exhilarated and free.

All too soon the dance came to an end and I had to let her go. She wasted no time in backing away from me and making an escape. Again I felt like my entire world had been taken from under my feet and I had been dropped into a bottomless chasm. The rest of the crowd joined the dance floor and I stood there feeling like my heart had jumped out of my chest and into a roasting furnace. I endured the rest of the evening by wearing a façade, one which kept my true feelings concealed completely. Nico was too busy with Thalia to notice my mood and I was happy for that, I didn't want his evening to be completely ruined too.

The rest of the evening passed relatively quickly but only because I was in so much pain. I made up my mind about what I would do with myself; I knew where I would go once all this was over.


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry about how bad this is, forgive me pleeaseee.**

**As you know, the story is coming to an end. Sequel or no? **

**Thanks Review. **

**PERCY**

I walked out of the ballroom, and I hoped no one would notice me as I ran, at top speed, towards the elevator.

I needed to get to my mother but I didn't have any money on me, my bank card was in the car which we'd left in San Francisco. So if I go on the train, I could bring it back with me I thought.

I made my back to the apartment on 5th Avenue. I didn't bother to run or conceal myself but I was sure I looked ridiculous in my outfit. I didn't really care though; I had seen stranger characters in New York.

It didn't take me long to get back to the apartment. Once I walked into the building, the door man raised an eyebrow and greeted me. I nodded and walked straight to the lift.

I was surprised to find the door open because I was sure I had locked it on my way out. I had been planning to break the door handle so I could enter.

I wasn't scared of any robbers or anyone who was trying to kill me but I was scared for them; I was not in a particularly good mood tonight.

"Who's there?" I heard a familiar voice call. I froze for a second then ran towards the voice; it was too good to be true, "Mum," I called out hesitantly, "Is that you?"

"Percy?" she called as she rounded the corner that separated us from each other. "Yes mum it's me" I said as I ran into her arms. Tears that couldn't fall from my eyes fell from hers and for a few seconds I was overwhelmed with happiness. Unfortunately, reality had to set in and I remembered the rest of my problems and the emotions that accompanied them.

"How did you get back to New York? I was going to get a train up there to get you and the car." I asked as we sat down in front of the telly.

"Oh Percy, I went to sleep and Poseidon visited me in dream apologising profusely for what happened, he told me everything would be in it's right place when I woke up and then he left. When I woke up, your things were on the bed and that included some car keys and your motorcycle keys."

I nodded setting a reminder for myself to make sure I thanked Poseidon. "What happened Mum?" I asked. She readjusted herself on the self on the seat and proceeded to tell me the story.

**THALIA**

I am really happy I decided to go for the ceremony, Nico apologised and I couldn't ignore the gleam in his eye when I told him that I had forgiven him. We had proceeded to have a great time talking and laughing for the entire evening. During the dance I couldn't focus on anything except him, I stared into his eyes while I let him lead me across and around the dance floor.

I was enraptured by him. His beauty, his grace, his elegance, it struck me so much and it made him even more special than he already was. The fact that he wasn't a huge dick head was an added bonus to the entire situation and once we finished the dance, I was speechless.

The moment had been perfect, everything was absolutely perfect. Nico and I spent the rest of the evening talking and when it had gotten really late, he shadow travelled me back to my cabin and kissed my cheek as he said goodnight.

When I woke up this morning, I had a huge smile on my face. Nico and I were friends again; Annabeth, Percy and Jason were alive and safe. The main threat to Olympus had been averted and the camp was safe again.

"Someone's happy," Jason commented, "What did you and Nico consummate your love already?"

I threw a pillow at his head which he easily dodged while laughing. "Calm down Thals, oh and Annabeth came looking for you."

"If you didn't have such a dirty mind and a big mouth, I wouldn't have to get annoyed." I said as I walked into the bathroom to have a shower. "Hey, I was about to go in there!" I heard him scream as I closed the door.

"You snooze you lose Jace," I shouted back to him. I heard him mutter something but I decided not to comment as I stepped into the shower.

Once I was dressed in black jeans and a black sweater. I went to find Annabeth at her cabins, but her siblings said she had gone down to beach. I thanked them and continued on my search for Annabeth.

I walked down to her spot on the beach which was concealed from everyone and I sat down beside her. "So, how was he?" she started easily with a smirk,

I shoved her off the log and she landed in the dirt before she even realised what was happening.

"We're just friends," I said as I rolled my eyes.

"You are not going to be just friends for much longer if the way you were looking at each other yesterday is any indication." She responded.

"Whatever, how about you and Percy? I didn't even see you guys leave or when you left." I realised. She looked down and her face fell, I instantly knew there was something wrong.

"What happened?" I asked,

"Well, he brought me to the party and after I received my prize, he asked me to do the dance thing but when that was done I bolted"

I shook my head and then rolled my eyes, "Annabeth, why did you run?"

She hesitated, "I don't know" I had a feeling she was hiding something, a detail that would make all this make sense, but I shrugged it off

"How about you, do you like Nico?" I shook my head, "No, we're just friends and I don't think he is interested in me that" I was almost sad.

Annabeth stood up and laughed at me, "Right Miss Grace, let's go train it will soon be time for lunch"

I stuck my tongue out at her and followed her anyway. We walked side by side back to the arena and when we got there, we saw Clarisse and Nico fighting.

I knew Nico wasn't even putting half of his all into that fight, but Clarisse on the other hand was giving it her all. "I wonder who attacked who" I mused to Annabeth.

"I think I can guess," she whispered back while rolling her eyes. We both laughed at our little joke and then Nico looked back and winked. Suddenly, he broke Clarisse's spear in one swift motion, swiped her feet out from under her and then he used the handle of his sword to tap her head which somehow made her pass out.

He smiled at his work then jogged over to us. "Why were you fighting with Clarisse?"

He shrugged, "She said she wanted to fight. I knew I was going to win of course, but I made a deal with her that if I managed to knock her out, she would never ask me to fight with her again. She agreed whole heartedly so I dragged it out for about three minutes then you guys came over."

"What did you do to make her pass out?" I asked curious.

"Oh nothing serious, when she wakes up she'll be fine." He said with a smirk. He looked between us them smiled, "So what are you guys up to? I'm afraid I am a bit bored."

"We were just about to train and I think I found the hardest person to fight against" Annabeth said,

"Hey!" Thalia complained, "I used to be the hardest person" she said with a pout.

Nico just laughed at her, "The key phrase there is used to. So do you guys want to do two against one or what?"

"Where's Percy?" I suddenly blurt out.

Nico's smile faltered, "Percy's currently in Atlantis with his father, and then he's going to spend time with his mother. I glanced over at Annabeth and saw that her smile had melted off her face. I knew what she was thinking and it was very similar to what I was thinking, "When is he coming back to camp?"

Now his smile had completely disappeared. "I don't know if he will this summer to be quite honest. His mother just came back from the "dead" and we were thinking of going to the Hamptons for a couple of weeks." He rubbed his neck and looked down.

I heard exactly what he said, he was leaving. "When are you leaving then?" I was really unhappy that he had to leave. "Well they're already there; I'm going to join them soon. Today or tomorrow probably, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"We're having a party there at the end of the summer and I wanted both of you to come. It's only close friends so it's nothing huge and we'll be arranging the transportation so you won't have to do anything"

I smiled though I was still sad that he was leaving but I said, "Yeah sure that sounds great."

He looked nervous now, "One more thing I'd like to ask you, in private." I glanced at Annabeth who was looking blankly at her feet. I think she felt me staring because she snapped her head up and smiled slightly before running towards her cabin.

I sighed then looked back at Nico, "So what's up?"

He scratched the back of his neck then ran his hands through his hair, "I was wondering if you would like to come with me on holiday." He mumbled, when I didn't answer a second later he hurried to add, "If you want, I mean it's not going to be just me of course, there would be Percy and Annabeth there and even Percy's mum and everything and if you're scared, I don't really mind." He stopped talking for a second then smiled sheepishly, "So, uh, what do you say to that?"

"I would love to come," I said with a smile, his face brightened for a second then I continued, "But I can't leave Annabeth here alone so she comes too" I finished with a smirk, my eyes on his. I looked at Nico who held a weird look for a second then it was gone.

A smirk grew on his face and he nodded, "What's going on with her anyway, what happened to them? I would have asked Percy, but something told me he wasn't prepared to talk about it yet, so I decided against it."

I shrugged, "I don't know but I hope this holiday will cheer them both up. I haven't had a vacation in forever."

He nodded, his eyes bore into mine. "I'm going to go talk to Percy and tell him of the most recent developments. We leave tomorrow and pack loads of summer stuff and do it now because we are leaving tomorrow at ten. Oh and don't forget to make sure Annabeth is ready." He smiled and closed the space between us. My heart did the fox trot in my chest, "I look forward to spending the rest of the summer with you Miss Grace," he leaned down and kissed my cheek. He also made sure it was as close to my mouth as he could make it. I blushed furiously still unable to speak.

"See you tomorrow Thalia." he said as he walked off in the direction of the forest.

I watched his back until he was out of sight then I walked towards the Athena cabin to speak to Annabeth. When I saw her, she lay solemnly on her bed hardly moving. "Annabeth, what's up with you?"

"Nothing, I'm fine. What did you and Nico talk about?" she asked, her voice sounded like she was in a trance.

"We talked about the rest of the summer and he invited me on holiday with him." that seemed to pique Annabeth's interest because she got up and was now sitting on her bed.

"Did you say yes?" she asked, her eyebrows rose.

"No, of course I didn't say yes." I lied; I rolled my eyes and walked over to her bed.

"Why?" she scrunched her eyebrows and looked genuinely confused.

"Because I had to ask you first silly, so would you like to come with me on holiday?" I asked cheerily.

She shook her head, "I can't interrupt you and Nico's vacation. That would be selfish of me."

"You're not interrupting trust me, plus, he told me specifically to beg you to come." I lied again.

"Wait, I hope this isn't some scheme to get Percy and me together because if it is, I _will_ kill you." She warned. I laughed, "This isn't any of that."

"I'm so happy you agreed. Start packing because we leave tomorrow; Nico is going to pick us up by ten. Oh, and pack for a long summer at the beach." I didn't give her the chance to respond as I jogged out of her cabin and towards the big house.

I knew I had to ask Chiron's permission because he was technically my guardian, but I cringed at the thought of what he would think of the whole thing. No matter, it would be worth it when I spent the summer on a beach with my best friend and the two hottest guys on the planet. What I was really hoping for though, was a break from being a demi-god to finally be a normal seventeen year old.

I approached the steps of the big house and Chiron, in wheel chair form, sat there playing a game with Mr D. "Ah, Thalia, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked with a smile.

I fidgeted nervously but then I cleared my throat and spoke, "I wanted to ask if Annabeth and I could go on a vacation."

Chiron raised an eyebrow as if he knew there was more, but only asked, "Where to?"

"To the Hamptons," I said clearly, "With Percy and Nico" I mumbled.

Fortunately Chiron seemed to hear me because he just smiled knowingly, "That is absolutely fine, when will you be leaving and will you be coming back here before you return to school?"

I blushed, "Uh, we're going tomorrow and I don't know if I'll be coming back here first, we'll probably iris message you or something."

"That's absolutely fine then, enjoy the rest of your summer!" he grinned,

"Thanks Chiron," I said, still blushing, as I walked to my cabin to pack.

**NICO**

Once I left Thalia, I shadow travelled to the house where Percy and Sally were getting ready to leave. I appeared on the chair behind Percy who was backing me.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were staying at Camp a few more days to spend time with Thalia" he said in a calm voice.

"Well, I didn't really want to not see her for the entire summer. So I invited her over with us," he tensed as I finished my sentence, "Oh, and Annabeth's coming too."

I had apparently hit a sore spot because he spun round and glared at me so intensely that if I was not indestructible, I would have cowered in fear.

His gaze softened and showed what he was really feeling, hurt. "Why did you do that without telling me first?" he half whispered.

"What happened?" was all I said in response.

He sighed and sat down beside me, "I kissed her and she ran away from me."

I raised my eyebrow's "when and why did you kiss her?"

He looked at me like I was an idiot, "To answer your first question, I kissed her before she got her reward. As for your second question, why the fuck do you _think _I kissed her?" he half shouted.

"Whoa, calm down there. Why did you do it at that particular time is what I meant." I rolled my eyes.

"I-I couldn't help it. I was overwhelmed by my emotions" he looked at his hands.

I had the urge to crack a joke but if our emotional tendencies were similar in anyway, I knew he was actually in pain. "You have to try and be her friend properly first. We've known each other what two weeks?" he looked up and nodded.

"You can't take back your emotions since she knows now, but you can be her friend. Trust me I know how hard it is for you, but we're going to pick them up tomorrow at ten and you're going to talk to her."

He nodded as Sally walked in, "Oh hello Nico, I didn't know you were back." She smiled warmly at me. "Hey Sally, It was an impromptu visit. I just wanted to ask you if we could have two friends with us for the holiday."

"That's absolutely fine; I am going to be busy trying to reconnect with the world anyway so I was scared you boys wouldn't have much to do." She smiled. "Oh and I have some errands to run so I'll be taking a town car today, rather than tomorrow. I'm sure you boys can manage without me for a few hours?"

"That's absolutely fine; we'll take the car and meet you there." I smiled. Everything fell into place perfectly.

"Excellent. The porter is coming to get my stuff in about three hours so how about we play top chef and then watch a movie?"

I smiled widely; top chef was our special game. It started when we were thirteen and Sally got angry with us because of how rubbish we were in the kitchen. So naturally she made it a rule that we would play top chef every weekend or we would be grounded. As was expected from two teenage boys we absolutely despised it.

So she told us something else, she made us believe that girls loved guys who could cook. Of course for two adolescent boys this was the deal breaker and so we learned the art of culinary expertise. We obviously figured out her trick eventually, but then the prizes for winning became even more appealing even though we played less often.

Now after the game being absent from our bonding routine for so long, I was suddenly excited to be playing it again. . We all walked into the kitchen to survey our available ingredients and then Percy and I spent the rest of the hour making the best we could with our resources and finally we served it to Sally.

Once the verdict had been given, I won of course; Percy stuck his tongue out at me as I danced in glee. We tidied up the kitchen and decided to watch movies till the car came for Sally.

We watched mission impossible three and Sally had to keep scolding us for reciting the lines. "If you don't stop, I'll make it my mission to make life hard for you this summer!"

That shut us up pretty quickly but we still mouthed the words and smirked at each other.

When the car arrived, we easily lifted everything that needed to be taken and placed them in the boot of the car. We both kissed her cheeks and watched as she drove off, away from the building.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up feeling very excited. Because we were at home, in our comfort zone, we didn't bother trying to conceal ourselves. I zipped around packing anything that I would need and then I took a quick shower. I stepped out and grabbed the black polo shirt, jeans and loafers beside my bed and swiftly put them on.

Once I was ready I walked into the living room to find Percy sitting there staring into space. "Are you alright Percy?"

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine" he said coming out of his daze. I gave him a look but decided not to push the matter further. "Come on, let's go." I grabbed my duffel bag off the floor and made my way out the door. "Dibs on driving!" I called back behind me.

I could literally hear Percy rolling his eyes and sticking his tongue out. I was proven correct when I swirled round unexpectedly to find him about to pull his tongue in. I smirked at him, "You are so predictable Percy it's rather ridiculous."

"Piss off Di Angelo," he grumbled as he trudged on ahead of me. I just laughed as we rode the lift down to the basement.

I turned the engine on and got the car onto the main road. I hadn't realized how sunny it was but after a couple of minutes, I developed a headache. "Why is the sun so bright?" I whined.

"You're such a big baby Nico," Percy said, "Here; take my sunglasses for a while, I don't want you wrecking the car."

Once I put the glasses on my head ache decreased by a tenfold. I sighed in relief and Percy looked at me oddly. "You're rather weird you know"

"I know," I smirked.

* * *

About thirty minutes later due to my awesome driving. We arrived at Camp and parked at the bottom of the hill. We sprinted to the top of the hill and stopped as we noticed a satyr dragging a boy that looked injured up the hill. Behind them was a small hellhound and it had an odd expression, it looked like it was scared. The hell hound was much smaller than most and had a weird walk. If I hadn't been so observant I would have thought it was a small pet dog.

"Percy go help them, I'll deal with the hellhound." He nodded then jogged down the hill to where the satyr was and helped him lift the boy.

I ran to the hellhound who just stood still when I approached it. I summoned my sword from the earth and when the hellhound saw it, it retreated but proceeded to growl at me.

I replaced my sword in the earth and tried talking to it. "Are you alright?"

I felt a bit silly but it whined and pointed to its hind leg with its head. I glanced and noticed it was injured. I removed my hoodie and carried the monster up the hill in it. It licked my face a few times and snuggled into its make shift carrier.

Percy met me at the border and raised an eyebrow, "Okay, what in heaven's name are you doing?"

"The poor dear was just injured; I didn't see the need to hurt it unnecessarily."

"Alright mate, but you know it's not going to be able to come in here right?"

"Cheers Captain obvious, I didn't realise that." I responded sarcastically. "Calm down granny grumpykins, I was just wondering how you were going to get it in here." Percy laughed

"Well, Thalia told me something about monsters getting into camp; she said it was very hard to do unless someone summoned it from the inside. I wonder…" I was speculated in my head then spoke,

"I Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades allow this hellhound into camp half-blood" I declared and then I walked into the bounds of camp without any disturbance.

"I'll rally up the girls." I said, Percy nodded but remained silent.

I knew he felt a bit uncomfortable about the Annabeth situation so I decided to throw him a line, "Take the hellhound to Solace, and try to get him without his siblings. I'll meet you in front of your cabin with the girls in a few minutes"

He cracked a smile, "Thanks Nico." And he ran off.

I jogged up to Thalia's cabin and knocked on her door, it swung open to reveal a male face. The male face smiled, "Hey, you must be Nico. We haven't officially met but I'm Jason, Thalia's little brother." He held his hand out and I grasped it in a firm hand shake. "Delighted to meet you Jason, I'm Nico Di Angelo, son of the Devil himself." I smirked.

He grinned, "No wonder she likes you; you have an English accent, you're of Italian heritage and you're powerful, plus and no offence, you look like something out of a Calvin Klein advert." I chuckled but his smile melted of his face and he turned serious, "However, I must deliver the standard threat, hurt her in any way, form, shape and I will kill you. Have a nice holiday!" he ended with a huge smile then motioned me in behind him.

"Thalia, Nico's here!" he shouted then sat down to continue playing online Call of Duty. I watched him play for a while, "why not play on a telly?" I asked glancing around the cabin.

The cabin was large, not as large as mine but larger than most. There were two double beds on opposite sides of the cabin and each side had its own dresser and wardrobe. The cabin was painted sky blue and at the end of the cabin was a statue of the king of the gods himself. It looked quite menacing but it strangely fit with the décor of the place. On the wall beside the statue was a door which I assume led into the bathroom?

He snorted, "Only people in this camp who have electronic devices for leisure are the Stolls and Hephaestus cabin. The Stoll's charge ridiculous amounts for entrance and the Hephaestus cabin already has too many people they are letting in on the action."

"You could play in my cabin if you'd like." I offered, at that moment Thalia emerged from the bathroom and I had to actually try not to just scoop her up into my arms and kiss her like Percy had to Annabeth. She looked beautiful in a black tank top, a pair of low rise black jeans with torn knees and black converse's

Instead I smiled slightly, "Hey Thalia, I hope you're ready? Jason you can go to my cabin and play if you aren't too weirded out by it."

"Really? Thanks Dude!" he exclaimed then ran out the door leaving Thalia and I standing in her cabin.

"Take a seat, I am just finishing up my packing." I noticed the blue duffel bag on the bed that was packed to the brim with clothes. I watched her finish her packing and sling her bag over her shoulder. "Okay, I'm ready let's go." I walked over to her and grabbed her bag off her back. She looked surprised for a second but I turned round and walked down the stairs.

"We need to get Annabeth," I said as she walked with me towards the Athena cabin

"No Duh dip stick. How was your evening yesterday, I noticed that you didn't come back."

I smiled at the change in the tone of her voice. She tried to make it sound casual but I knew she was genuinely curious. "Stayed home with Sally and Percy and played top chef, which I won."

Thalia crunched up her face, "Top chef, like the cooking show? Did you play that on a game console or something?" I looked at her oddly, "No we played it in the kitchen."

"You can _cook?" _he chuckled at the surprised reaction she was getting.

"I'm pretty good actually if I do say so myself." I winked at her and she nearly hit me but I was too fast. I moved away and continued laughing as we approached Annabeth's door.

She knocked on the door to Annabeth's cabin and she emerged in black leggings and a fitted polo shirt. "Annie dearest, we have to go soon hurry up and we'll meet at the…?" she looked at me and I supplied the answer, "Poseidon cabin, Percy's waiting for us there." I noticed Annabeth flinch but I doubt Thalia did. She carried her bag and as soon as it was on her shoulder, I lifted it off her and put it on my shoulders.

All three of us made our way to the Poseidon cabin where Percy stood on the porch with our new dog. "Is that a hellhound?" Annabeth asked looking at Percy.

"Yeah, we found her injured outside camp and decided to save her." He responded with a smile, "I don't know what to name her though; I was thinking something more along the lines of Mrs O'Leary?"

Annabeth smirked, "That has got to be the worst name for a dog ever, great going seaweed brain" he chuckled and I saw his eyes shining. I was happy to see them on talking terms.

"On to more serious business, we have to get going soon everyone said their goodbyes?" I butted in.

"Yep, I spoke to the Stolls, Beckendorf, Silena, Pipes, Jason, Will, Solace and the rest." Thalia said

"Same." Annabeth said.

"Cool, we've said our Goodbyes. So is everyone good to go?" I asked

Everyone nodded and we waved goodbye to Chiron and our friends from camp as we drove off towards The Hamptons.


	17. Chapter 17

**Sorry sorry sorry for the late update.**

**This is the chapter before the epilogues. There won't be a sequel but there will be one shots from time to time about it.**

**Thanks ... Leave a review**

**NICO**

The car ride as expected was absolutely hilarious, we stopped to buy a cage for the hellhound and some red meat. When it was fed, it fell asleep for the rest of the time and didn't make a sound.

We however, were cracking up in fits of laughter every five minutes. We talked about music, films, funny you tube videos. About forty five minutes into the ride, they decided to watch a movie that Percy and I recommended and were in fits of laughter throughout. For the duration of the movie, Percy and I just talked and tried to think of things we could do for the duration of the holiday. We thought of going for concerts, going to movie premiers, going to watch Broadway productions and if the girls were up to it, we could go somewhere cool.

Once the movie was over, we only had a few minutes left of the car ride so we just talked about mundane things.

"So what's school like here in America, do you actually have the popular girls who make fun of the non-popular girls?" I asked.

Annabeth and Thalia exchanged a glance and said, "yep" at the same time. "They wear loads of makeup and look absolutely ridiculous and they tease you if you don't screw around, wear piles of makeup and tiny clothes. They also think you're pathetic if you don't have a boyfriend and they think we don't have social lives."

I was stunned and I'm pretty sure Percy was too. I know I had been on the receiving end of a lot of female attention, but I knew girls who had been very popular with the guys and Annabeth and Thalia qualified as hot by all standards. I mean they were literally half goddesses. "Do you guys get teased a lot?"

They both nodded but smirked, "We get teased for being prudes, having no social lives and dressing badly; if only they were in camp half blood." Annabeth and Thalia then shared a wink.

"What does that mean?" Percy asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Well, we're demigods. We have an average life expectancy which is less than a third of what the life expectancy of this nation is. We grow up faster and we do things quicker. I mean, I'm a daughter of Athena, which means I am sensible about most things, but I AM still a teenager and I like to have fun. I won't go around sleeping with everything that moves, or smoking so much dope I kill myself or even smoking in general, but I have a buck it list and I would like to do everything on it before I die." Annabeth explained.

"Oh, another thing about demigods is, we know how to party. We have an increased alcohol tolerance, but when we get on those highs? It's crazy fun. We're not completely innocent, we've had our fair share of raves and extreme truth or dare sessions, but we're not whores either." Thalia explained further.

"I see that's excellent then because it means we won't have to spend out holiday with a couple of prudes. Hop out ladies and welcome to chez Nico and Percy" I announced as I drove through the gates of our home. It was a nice, not too huge five bedroom, modern style house with a deck pool and Jacuzzi.

Thalia whistled as I drove up to the door and went to the boot to grab their things. "This is one nice house." I rolled my eyes and followed behind them with the bags as Percy walked up the white staircase in front of them, and through the doors.

**ANNABETH**

Annabeth walked into the white mansion and was blown away. It was very home-y and well designed. As an aspiring architect, she had already marvelled at the simple yet dazzling structure of the house and now the detail just blew her away.

At the other end of the house, opposite the door way, it looked like there was nothing demarcating the house from the patio and the pool. But as Annabeth looked properly she noticed the subtle structures which hinted at the sliding French doors and the she noticed the more obvious ones like the door handles and the parts of the wall they were joined to.

"Earth to Annabeth," Percy's voice jolted her out of her intense structural analysis session she had going on in her head and she blushed slightly, "Oh um sorry about that, what were you saying?" I asked slightly flustered.

"We were just asking if you wanted a tour of the house, or if you wanted to relax for a bit and go to the beach or something?" Nico said,

"Oh uh" I started, I looked at Thalia and she mouthed 'tour', "A tour would be great then" I finished and when I heard Percy's slight chuckle, I blushed again.

"Okay, so this is the main living room and this is where we just chill and watch our various TV shows like suits." Percy started off. He walked through into another room which was the same width as the main living room but much taller and it had about thirty large comfy cinema chairs arranged in the same way as a proper cinema. The screen faced the chairs and spanned the entire length of the wall, it was absolutely huge.

"This," Nico said, "Is where we watch movies, usually with friends but sometimes just the both of us."

We walked up the stairs in the movie room towards another door. The next room looked like it was straight out of a boy's fantasy. It was large and had a very large flat screen TV, possible about sixty inches, and below it, were three game consoles.

There was also a pool table, a darts board, a foosball table and an air hockey table. At the side of the room, I spotted a bar with an array of bottles and about five stools in front of it. "This is where we hang out with the guys a lot but we also have small parties here. Would you guys like a drink?" Percy asked.

"No thanks, I think I'll pass" I rolled my eyes at him.

"I'll have a coke please" Thalia quipped.

"Coming right up," Percy said as he walked to the bar and went behind it into some sort of fridge that was hidden under the table.

He strode back up to us and tossed it at Thalia who caught it deftly. "On with the tour!" Nico proclaimed as he walked through another door.

Once we were done with the tour, we all lay in the upstairs living room eating pizza. "So, there's a club that teenagers go to around this time, we have nothing to do but party this whole summer so who's keen?"

I glanced at Thalia and she wore the mischievous glint in her eyes so I knew what her answer was. I looked back at Nico with a wicked smile, "We're in"

A few hours later, I was standing in a plain black body hugging dress and grey wedges while putting some make up on. "Looking good Annabeth," Thalia complimented as she sat in her grey dress and electric blue heels waiting for me, "You too Thalia, finally ready to score with Nico?" I winked at her. Instead of her usual defensive response, Thalia just shrugged. I raised an eyebrow at her which she pointedly ignored till she left the room.

Once we were down the stairs in those treacherous heels, the guys turned to us from their heated argument and looked awestruck.

"Uhh" was all that came out of Nico's mouth as he gave Thalia a once over. I blushed as I saw Percy doing the exact same thing to me.

"Guys, you're drooling" I smirked as they both snapped out of their dazed states and gave us dazzling smiles.

"And you love, look absolutely gorgeous" Percy said as he winked at me. I blushed even more and saw Thalia blush at something Nico whispered in her ear.

Both guys looked the same as they usually did, absolutely incredible. "Kay guys, Percy has fitfully nominated himself for the designated driver of the day and so he cannot get wasted, he's such a wonderful chap I know, but as for everyone else, it's time to PARTY!"

We cheered as we all clambered into the car, Percy just rolled his eyes.

***This is M ish, nothing explicit but much stronger hints, DO NOT READ if you are uncomfortable with this sort of thing***

**PERCY**

We arrived at the club and wormed our way in to grab a table where I would be stationed. Nico grabbed the first round of shots, which I was allowed to have, and we downed them quickly.

The next seven rounds I had to sit out on, they contained a mixture of Vodka, Rum, Tequila and all sorts of other strong substances but the girls were still going strong. Soon we all got up to dance and Annabeth, who was a little bit tipsy asked me to dance. We got to the dance floor and enjoyed dancing and laughing together. A few songs later we returned to the table and Thalia asked for another couple of shots for all of them but they downed them in half the time.

This time when we got up to dance, Annabeth's dancing was a lot more erotic and a lot less friendly. I spotted Nico and Thalia dancing extremely intimately against a wall somewhere. They came back for their last round of shots, and after that I could tell that even Nico was wasted which meant Thalia and Annabeth were out of control.

Annabeth pulled me to dance and it was so bad that this time I had to try and keep my um "self" in check. She pushed me into out booth and sat facing me then proceeded to dance against me. I _tried_ to ignore the sensations as I pulled her off me and carried her like a sack of potatoes and walked off to go get Nico and Thalia before Annabeth stripped or something ridiculous.

I found them in a compromising situation and decided to take care of Annabeth first. I carried Annabeth to the car and fastened the seatbelt around her in the front seat. I prayed to the gods that she wouldn't do anything to tempt me even more. Next I dashed back inside and pried Nico and Thalia away from each other then I hefted them over my shoulders and walked out of the club receiving strange looks. Once I had them all in the car I floored it all the way back to the house ignoring curses and insults from other drivers.

Unfortunately for me, neither of them had passed out yet. Annabeth repeatedly tried to get into the driver seat and Nico and Thalia where getting even better acquainted in the back seat. I swore never to go clubbing and be the taxi driver again. Once I got into the house, I carried Annabeth into her room and I pried Thalia away from Nico to get her into her room. Unfortunately, Nico just got annoyed at me and went after her. At this point I was beyond frustrated and Annabeth had succeeded in making me randy as well which was not a good combination.

I finally retired to my room and my eyes nearly fell out of my head at what I saw when I got there. Annabeth sat there in a shirt and heels and not very much else. It took a lot of my self-control to look away from her. "I'm sorry Percy for acting like that after we kissed, I really like you and I'm really attracted to you, I have been from the moment I met you, but I was scared. I was scared that you would leave Me." she stood up and walked towards me only stopping when she was right in front of me but I continued to look away.

_*****_**END OF WORST M BITS***

"Look at me Percy, I'm serious. I-I think I might be in love with you." That got my attention I looked back at her and I nearly fainted when I noticed the rest of her attire. I scrunched my eyes shut and before I moved back she grabbed my head and smashed her soft lips against mine. We shared a chaste kiss and she moved closer to me. I wrapped my hand around her bare waist but it was only when she opened her mouth and I tasted the alcohol did I realise she didn't mean it, she was just drunk.

I abruptly tore myself from her and ran out, ensuring to lock the door and lock her inside too. I couldn't believe I had fallen for that so easily, she was so obviously letting the alcohol talk for her. As I lay on the couch, I found that I couldn't sleep at all so I decided to go out to sit by the beach. It was already three in the morning so I wasn't expecting anyone to wake up before twelve, with massive hangovers, no doubt.

I lay in the sand enjoying the breeze, trying to ignore the pain and anguish I felt, until I finally drifted off into sleep.

ANNABETH

The next morning, I woke up with a banging head ache in only my skimpy underwear and a crop top. I looked around the room and I realised I was in Percy's room again I groaned. Although this time I was wearing only a shirt and underwear, and I vaguely remember us kissing at one time at one point. A sick feeling settled at the bottom of my stomach. He didn't seem like the type but I hope Percy didn't take advantage of me in anyway. I looked for something to wear because I didn't want to be walking around dressed like a whore.

I found Percy's dress towel and I crept back into my room to have a shower and get changed. Unfortunately, I puked my guts up in the process.

Once I was fresh enough, I padded down into the kitchen barefooted and I was surprised to find just Percy there cooking breakfast. He was wearing the same jeans and shirt from last night and his hair looked like there was sand inside it.

"Have a nice sleep?" he asked. His voice sounded monotone and dead. "Yeah," I muttered as I sat down on the stool, "I have a headache though."

Without saying anything, he placed the scrambled eggs on the plate, with sausages, salmon, kiwis and some toasted bread. I noticed that on the table there was also bacon, fruits, croissants, water and juice. He placed the plate he was holding in front of me and then placed a cup of water with two aspirins beside it and turned back to make another batch of eggs.

I wonder why he was so angry; I decided to ask him why he hadn't changed to try and distract me from this insufferable silence.

"Why are you still in yesterday's clothes with sand in your hair?"

"Because you were trying to rape me and I had to get out" he answered. I blushed; _I_ tried to rape _him again?_

"I remember us kissing, what happened?" he was silent for a second; "Nothing, you just walked up to me in what you were wearing and kissed me" he sounded like a pre-recorded ghost.

I remember a bit of that kiss, I may have been completely trashed but a kiss as passionate as that and with a fantastic kisser no doubt, isn't something one forgot easily. "I'm sorry about that by the way."

He tensed, "Why are you apologising?"

I wasn't expecting that, "Because I attacked you and it seems like I leading you on, playing with your feelings."

"Because you have no feelings what so ever for me right?" where was he taking this? I began to get irritated at his questions. "Why do you want to know all these things?"

"Because I need to know, now answer my question" his commanding tone only served to anger me,

"No, I have don't have feelings for you" My voice sounded calm and collected.

He smiled at me, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Thanks for clearing that up." I nodded and looked down at my food. It was absolutely delicious but suddenly I wasn't so hungry anymore.

Just then Thalia walked in wearing shorts and a tank top, followed closely behind by Nico and Percy smirked, "Nice night guys?"

Thalia blushed and I looked at her with my mouth hanging wide open. "Did you…?" I asked her. She obviously knew what I was talking about. She shook her head "He decided to be chivalrous and leave according to him"

"I did, don't doubt me just because I'm a chap. My mum raised me right!" he proclaimed while holding up a croissant.

"Shut up mummy's boy" Percy laughed and threw a sausage at Nico which he easily dodged.

"Just because she loved me more doesn't mean you should get your knickers in a twist alright?" he rolled his eyes.

"Right, I'm going to freshen up see you Muppets later" Percy raised a hand at us then left the room.

"What happened between you two?" Nico asked uncharacteristically serious.

I narrowed my eyes, "Nothing, why do you think something happened"

"Because I know Percy and I could smell the tension in the air when I walked in." he stated as if it were perfectly logical. "And you've been tense the entire time he was here. Once he left you relaxed." He added as an afterthought.

I sighed, "We might have kissed last night… and this morning I had to set the record straight."

Nico said something under his breath but it sounded like it was in Italian, although I couldn't be sure.

We sat eating in silence for a while then Nico spoke, "Thalia, I was wondering if you wanted to go somewhere with me later this evening?" he asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.

She blushed and nodded, "Yeah that would be cool."

I was so happy for her, she finally got a date with him and I could tell she was about to fall off her seat with excitement. I on the other hand, I was still stalling. I knew I liked Percy a lot, but I kept denying it because of my trust issues. He was too perfect; good looking, caring, loyal and a strong character. I was sure my luck was going to run out and he'd get over me and fall in love with someone who deserved him more. I was riddled with imperfections and he was every girls dream, including mine.

Once Thalia was done with breakfast, I dragged her into my room to discuss her impending date. "Where do you think he's going to take you?" I asked as we sat gossiping on my bed like little girls.

"I have no idea but I don't want to talk about my amazing night with Nico who by the way is very good with his hands. I want to talk about you and Percy what the hell is going on?"

I told her everything that had happened, including the kiss before his ceremony. Her eyes widened at the appropriate parts of the story but she refrained from interrupting me. When I was done she just looked at me, "Do you really mean what you said?

I looked down at my hands. "Oh Annabeth why are you doing this?" she took me in her arms.

When I didn't answer she guessed, "If this is about Luke Annabeth, he's an asshole and a jackass so please move on. Besides Percy is nothing like that and Annabeth he really does like you, please just tell him how you feel before it's too late."

I nodded quietly and just sat there with my best friend trying to make myself feel better.

**PERCY**

Once I was done taking a shower, I made my way back to the ocean. I decided to go for a swim to visit Atlantis and possibly my father to try and clear my head. Once I was in the water, I willed the current to take me there and immediately shot through the water at speeds that would have crushed a human. Once I arrived at the outskirts of the city, I was greeted by the guards and I decided to take a stroll through the town. Well it was more like a float, but you get the drift. I passed by coffee houses, clothes stores and even an ice cream shop. I did not want to know how they had all that there so I propelled myself forward.

I got many glances and whispers from girls as I swam by and I slapped my head at my stupid self who decided not to wear a shirt. My thoughts drifted back to Annabeth, I was a complete wreck because of her but naturally, I hid it ridiculously well. I felt as though someone had taken away my will to live which may have sounded a bit melodramatic but it was absolutely true.

I reached the gates and they swung open for me. The guards bowed and did the customary horn blowing to announce my arrival. Apparently my father didn't want me showing up without some sort of warning, what a Drama queen.

"Percy my boy, what brings you here?" Poseidon boomed as I walked into his throne room.

"Girls" I muttered under my breath, and he raised an eyebrow. "You have girl problems?" he seemed very surprised.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" "Because the entire time we were on Olympus, all I could hear were the girls talking about how "hot" you and Nico are. It was rather irritating at a point."

I rolled my eyes, "Well the girl I have fallen so hopelessly in Love with doesn't feel the same way" I groaned closing my eyes.

"Is it that daughter of Athena you were dancing with at the ceremony?" he asked amused. I nodded,

"Well, you're technically going to be an immortal soon and any companion you choose will be made the same way but without godly powers that the person didn't already have. So my dear boy, if you know your heart will never belong to another. Wait for her, don't live an unhappy life like I did." He said regarding me.

"Oh, and you're a Jackson you can't run away when the problems are overwhelming. Go home now Perseus and make amends, I have business to attend to."

I nodded when he said that and closed my eyes. When I opened them I was standing in the sand looking out at the ocean. I sat down and continued to stare out into the horizon till I heard footsteps behind me and I smelt the person.

"Got bored with the two idiots yet? I asked her.

"Yep, Thalia has a date with Nico and she was very excited about that but now they're doing God knows what in the house." She said as she sat down beside me.

"Was there anything in particular that you wanted or did you just come to hang out?" I asked glancing at her.

"Umm, I just came to hang out." She said.

I nodded and thought of my father's advice, what was the harm in sweeping her off her feet? If she really didn't want anything to do with me she could stop me right?

"Cool, so, what are ten things you've never done that you've always wanted to do."

She gave me a look that suggested she knew exactly where this was going but what did I care? I was going to do it anyway. She already knew how I felt so why should she be surprised?"

"There are loads of things I want to do in my life that I haven't had the chance to do. I can't list them all."

I shrugged, "Take your time to think about them, I have my list but since I became what I am, I knew I would have the whole of eternity to do them." I got up and shook the sand of my board shorts and then I held my hand out for her.

She took my hand and got up, "I'm starting with one of the first things on my list that would be sad if I do alone are you in?"

She seemed confused, "What are we doing?"

"We're going to eat lunch at the bottom of the ocean." I said as I dragged her through the water and held on to her waist. She shuddered and I whispered into her ear, "And yes it is counted as a date." Then we shot through the ocean back down to Atlantis.

I held onto her tightly to make sure she didn't feel scared but she looked amazed as we zoomed by. Her eyes held an amazed twinkle and she let out a squeal of excitement as we flew past.

Once we got to the bottom of the ocean I let go of her waist and held a strong grip on her hand. I had to make sure there was an air bubble around her at all times or else she would be dead before I could do anything to heal her.

We swam round the city as I showed her all the "tourist" attractions and the cool things in the city. I even bought her some souvenirs from one of the shops and she was beside herself with excitement.

Once we were done touring the city I took her to one of the nice "burger" joints. There were many mer people here and most of them seemed to be teenagers. Once we sat down at a booth, one of the waitresses came up to us to take out order. She had her blue hair up in a bun with hair clips that looked like sea shells and she wore a blue tube top that only covered the "necessary" areas and then her tail was dark green. Other than that she looked human and her dark green eyes matched her tail.

Once she saw me her eyes widened and bulged, then she bowed in a clumsy manner and proceeded to take my order, "It's an honour to see you hear your highness is there anything I can get for you?" she asked while smiling in a slightly flirt manner. I was very pleased when Annabeth's eyes narrowed and she shot daggers at the girl. Hmm, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

**THALIA.**

I am not completely aware of what I did last night, I remember dancing with Nico after the sixth shot, he confessed that he really liked me and then I kissed him like my life depended on it. He stopped me of course, the moron, and made sure I was not completely wasted. Once we had gotten that out of the way, the night got increasingly, uh, heated.

Once I was done comforting Annabeth she left to go find Percy and I decided to watch some television. I walked out in my black tank top and daisy dukes and I lay down in front of the massive television watching Suits. Right in the middle of my episode Nico zoomed into the room and sat on a chair. That effectively scared the shit out of me and made me roll of the chair. The idiot caught me of course and before I knew it, I was perched in his lap facing the television while he wrapped his arms around me and stroked my back.

"You pervert!" I screeched at him as I clawed my way out of his embrace.

He chuckled, "Calm down, I didn't mean to scare you in the first place." He rolled his eyes.

"Right, and flamingos are blue" I retorted sarcastically.

He just laughed and sat down to watch suits. I would never admit it, but I would much rather be in his arms than beside him but I would never allow him that satisfaction.

I tensed as he slid closer to me on the chair, I slid away. He raised an eyebrow and before I knew it he was beside me. "Jackass" I muttered then I crawled into his lap and kissed him.

We sat like that for a while just laughing and watching Suits and he told me he could do what Mike Ross did because of his new and improved brain. "So, where are you taking me for dinner?" I casually asked as we were watching an episode.

"If I told you, it would spoil the surprise" he whispered to me as he kissed behind my ear and my neck. I closed my eyes and purred at his ministrations then I realised he was trying to distract me and I pushed him away. "Nice try lover boy." I winked at him and continued watching suits.

After an hour of watching suits he looked at me, "You need to go get ready, don't look to fancy. Look smart casual. The place we're going starts serving dinner earlier than we're used to. I hope you like Italian" he said as he winked at me and lifted me off him then ran off.

Once I was ready, I walked down the stairs and spotted Nico waiting for me. He smiled widely and held my hand firmly and led me to a shadow. Before I knew what was going on I felt myself being flung at high speeds through the shadows. I was very relieved when we stepped out of the shadows in a very different setting. I looked up at Nico, "where in the world are we?" "My dear Thalia, we're in Florence, Italy, my home town."

**ANNABETH**

I think I just fell in love with Percy Jackson. I had the most incredible day at the bottom of the sea and it was all thanks to him. As if that wasn't enough, when the sun was about to set, he brought me to the surface and hardened the water so we could lie down and watch the sunset. He took us so far in that suddenly the dolphins began to give us a live water show featuring the ocean version of the circus.

It was the most phenomenal thing I had ever witnessed and as we floated on the water back to the house I could think of nothing except how much I wanted to kiss him. He showed me around the city, took me for lunch (which was absolutely delicious) and then he took me on a tour of the palace. He bought me souvenirs and held my hand throughout.

As we stepped onto the beach I was still stunned at how much emotion I felt for him right now and I couldn't say anything till we got to the house. He walked me to my room, gave me a long hug and then he kissed my cheek and walked away.


	18. Very Short Epilogue

**This is soo short, it's disgusting I know. What makes it worse is you waited almost two months for it... I'll try to make it up in the coming months. It's ridiculously busy in my life right now. **

**EPILOGUE**

**ANNABETH**

I had to give it to him; the boy didn't give up without a fight. He spent the next month doing all the things on his buck it list and of course he dragged me along. These things involved; Naked bungee jumping (and I do mean naked). This one was a personal favourite of mine because he walked around naked with his hands covering his goods, most of the time. Trust me when I say he is the PERFECT male specimen.

The rest of the time when we weren't doing stuff with Nico and Thalia (who were now officially a couple and wouldn't let us forget it), or crossing out all the items on our buck it lists, he was adamantly making sure I understood just how much he loved and wanted me.

The different flowers, the exotic locations for lunch, dinner, breakfast and the never ending tease fest! It was all getting a bit too much. He was constantly making it very clear how _much_ he wanted me, both physically and emotionally.

My resolve lasted most of the month, but I had the sneaking suspicion that after a few of his romantic dates and random sexy comments, he knew just how much I wanted to be with him.

By the time the month was over, I had cracked and now the bastard had a smug smile on his face every time we kissed.

How we ended up together was rather, for lack of a better way to explain it, cheesy and weird. I entered his room to get him for dinner because Nico and Thalia were waiting downstairs and he decided to frighten me by jumping from the ceiling where he had been hiding, to right opposite me. Naturally, I squealed and tripped over my feet which nearly translated to me nearly face planting into the edge of the wall.

Percy obviously couldn't stand to see that happen so he caught me before I could do that and ran across the room with me in his arms. When I opened my eyes, his see green orbs were filled with worry as he looked me over. He held me tightly as he apologised again and again, sometimes switching to French or Italian so I had no clue what he was saying. I shut him up but he still didn't let me go, and then he said something in Spanish. I don't know what it was with me and Spanish, but the language just called to me and I absolutely loved it. Figuring that he couldn't possibly get any better than he was now, I kissed him, hard.

Obviously being half human meant he was better than the average mortal at everything, but now that he was not human at all, it meant that he was even better at it than before. The fact that he was the best kisser on this planet meant that before I had even gathered my wits, I was straddling him as we lay on the bed intensely making out, oh and he spoke more Spanish.

Needless to say, that evening would have gone a lot more differently if not for someone's impeccable self-control…

Once that and all our unresolved sexual tension had been cleared up, we spent the last two weeks in England before Thalia and I had to return to our senior years in high school and the other two had to start at Columbia. Those were the best two months of my entire life.

**PERCY**

If I had known she loved Spanish so much, I would have spoken it sooner. But whatever, we were together (finally) and we got to spend the last two weeks of our holiday showing them around London, our home town. I was excited I finally got to be with her though, and my parents had been thrilled, although part of the reason my dad was happy was because Athena wasn't all that thrilled.

Annabeth had made it clear to her mother on a number of occasions while we were otherwise occupied, that she didn't give a rat's arse what Athena thought about me and that made me very happy.

Nico was ridiculously hooked on Thalia, and I guess I was the same with Annabeth, but we were happy and even though they would be living in our house while we were at the Columbia dorms, we could still see them relatively often (thanks to our super speed).

Everything had turned out perfectly, a little too perfectly we thought, but who was complaining?


End file.
